After losing six straight to open its American Legion season, Westwood Post 320 finally enjoyed an entry in the points column last week, garnering a tie and a win in consecutive meetings with Canton, followed by an 8-0 drubbing of Stoughton on Saturday.
But Westwood’s depleted pitching staff, beset by an injury and a vacancy, ran out of steam yesterday and yielded, 7-4, to Dedham Post 18 in a grueling, three-hour, rain-delayed match at Thurston Middle School.
“Pitching is the name of the game,” said Westwood manager Dick Paster, whose team falls to 2-7-1 with the loss. “Unfortunately, we have one of our starting pitchers who is injured and I’ve had to use a couple of JV pitchers. They’re good, talented kids but they’re probably a year away.”
Talented was Dedham’s Stephen Healy, who scattered five hits and fanned 10 in his second consecutive complete-game outing. Healy overcame a pair of choppy innings, including the seventh when Westwood, trailing by four runs, loaded the bases with no outs but failed to complete the rally. Post 18 improves to 4-8 with the win and 14-8 setback to Medfield Friday.
“Outstanding,” said Dedham coach Dave Brown of his workhorse. “That’s two-in-a-row with over a hundred pitches thrown. He’s just dominating when he gets that low fastball. I don’t think anyone can touch it.”
Post 320 first baseman Jason Sementelli might disagree with Brown, at least early in the contest, when the former Wolverine got hold of a Healy fastball and drilled it over the centerfield fence for a 1-0 lead.
But Dedham jumped ahead in the third, ringing up a pair of runs on Westwood miscues. Mac Jacobson singled off Westwood starter Brian McDonald and later scored when the cut-off man missed the inbound throw on Devan Jones’ base hit to deep right. Post 18 made in 2-1, when a grounder to third was booted, allowing Jones to cross.
Dark, threatening clouds rolled in after three frames and cancellation loomed if lightning was sighted, according to the officials. But only rain fell, heavy torrents of it for nearly forty-five minutes. When played resumed, Dedham picked up where it left off adding two more on John Gorman’s sacrifice fly and a precision double steal.
Post 18 quickly got to reliever Matt Venti in the fifth, adding a trio of hits and the eventual game-winning run on Chase Davenport’s RBI single, all with two outs.
Westwood, meanwhile, was putting men on base in each inning. But to Paster’s chagrin, they were being left there.
“We couldn’t get the big hit when we needed it and we left a lot of guys on base,” said Paster, who watched Post 320 strand 10 men in all, including a half dozen in scoring position.
Healy seemed to be tiring in the fifth, made evident by consecutive hit batsmen and a two-out bases-loaded walk that brought in Sementelli. The Dedham hurler also suffered from an infield error that extended the frame, and led to Westwood further closing the gap to 5-3. But a key strikeout suppressed the threat and there was no looking back for Healy.
“The curveball wasn’t really working for me tonight,” he explained. “So, I had to rely on my fastball a little more than usual. And our hitting and defense came together tonight. We can really bear down in clutch situations.”
Paster dispatched T.J. Manning in relief of Venti, but Dedham continued the trend, climbing into a 7-3 advantage in the sixth with RBI-hits from Jones and Robert Kelly.
Westwood’s Manning led off the seventh with a double, lashing a Healy curve into deep center. Brian Morante worked Healy for a walk and was followed by the dangerous Sementelli, who loaded the bases with a single. Manning scored on Greg D’Agincourt’s ground ball out but the Post 320 rally fizzled when Healy found another gear and struck out a pair.
“This was the best defensive game we’ve had all year,” said Brown.“The infield played great. (Alex) D’Agostino had a couple good plays and (Andrew) Lorusso made a great play on what should have been a basehit up the middle. If we play solid defense like that, with Healy on the mound, we’re going to win nine-out-of-ten games.”
