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By Michael Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
Walpole Legion Post 104 (16-2) capped off its regular season on Monday night at Medfield Post 110 (8-10), which features players from Medfield, Dover, Sherborn, and Millis.
Thanks to five innings of one-run ball by starter Matt Chamoun, Walpole won its seventh straight game by a 10-1 final to enter the postseason on a winning note with the District Six West title already under their belts.
Chris McLean got Walpole on the board first, driving home Pat Falvey from third with an RBI sacrifice fly to left. Chamoun recorded a pair of groundouts in the bottom of the first before Jack McDonald singled to left with two down. McDonald swiped second, but Chamoun was able to strand the runner with an inning-ending groundout to second.
The Walpole bats stayed red hot in the top of the second. John Brady smacked a leadoff single to center before Tyler Page followed it up with a single to right. Matt Donato cranked a double off the left field fence to score Brady and put Walpole ahead by two. Falvey singled home Page to extend the lead to 3-0 before a sacrifice fly by Charlie Auditore plated Donato to make it a 4-0 game. Dylan Hanifin came around to score on a throwing error at second and Walpole led, 5-0, after an inning and a half.
Chamoun continued to deal in the bottom of the second, striking out a pair and inducing a pop out to second. Medfield escaped trouble in the top of the third, stranding runners at first and second with a pop out to the catcher, a strikeout, and a groundout to short to end the inning.
Back-to-back singles by Luigi Musto and John Manning put runners at first and second with one out for Medfield. The runners advanced to second and third on a ball in the dirt before a sacrifice fly by Ben Adams to deep right plated Musto and got Medfield on the board. Chamoun then got McDonald to fly out to right to end the inning.
Walpole’s bats came back alive in the top of the fourth, plating five runs. Jackson Walonis crushed a two-RBI double to left-center to score Hanifin and Auditore to make it a 7-1 game before Brady added a pair of runs with a two-RBI single to push the lead to 9-1. Walpole added another run to get into double digits, thanks to an RBI groundout by Page that scored Auditore.
Medfield put runners at first and second with nobody out to begin the bottom of the fourth with a walk by Justin Pratt and a single by Manning, but a 5-3 double-play on a ground ball to third strangled the possible rally. Chamoun struck out the next man he faced and got Walpole to the fifth, still ahead by nine.
With the 10-1 lead still intact, Cam Schlittler came on to pitch for Walpole in the bottom of the sixth. After allowing a pair of singles to lead off the inning, the future Northeastern Husky struck out a pair and induced an inning-ending groundout to get out of the inning unscathed. Schlittler came back out for the seventh and shut the door with a pair of strikeouts before forcing a game-ending fly out to right.
For funny and incisive sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter at @fLAno0.
