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By Mike Flanagan
Hometown Weekly Sports Editor
After falling 10-0 to Medfield Post 110, whose roster is comprised mainly of Medfield High and Dover-Sherborn players, on Monday night, Westwood Legion Post 320 hosted Medfield on Thursday looking to bounce back and serve up some revenge to their rivals to the west.
Unfortunately for Westwood, whose roster is comprised of mainly Xaverian and Westwood High players, Medfield strung together another impressive 10-run performance at the plate, holding off a late rally attempt and prevailing by the 10-7 final in an absolutely crazy game that saw six lead changes.
Jack McDonald got Medfield on the board with one out in the top of the first, singling in Max Goodman, who led off the game with a single to left. Westwood responded in the home half with a pair of runs, both driven in by Dan Delorey on an infield single and error on the throw to first. Post 320 seized a 2-1 lead after one.
Medfield responded right back in the top of the second. Dover-Sherborn’s Michael Gilio led off the inning with a hit-by-pitch, followed by a single to center by Luigi Musto. An error on a ground ball to second with two outs allowed Gilio to come in and tie the game at two. Ben Leonard then cracked a double to left-center to score Musto and give Medfield a 3-2 lead.
The Westwood bats stayed hot in the home half as Joe Hutchinson doubled to left-center to lead off the inning. Derik Nelson reached on a throwing error that put runners at first and third. A balk by Medfield’s Will Stolzenbach brought in the tying run before another throwing error on a grounder to short allowed the go-ahead run to score in the form of Nelson. Stolzenbach worked his way out of further damage by inducing a fielder’s choice at third and striking out the next batter to end the inning with Westwood leading 4-3.
A two-RBI double by Drew Cookson allowed Medfield to go back ahead in the top of the third at 5-4. Seamus Kilgarriff drew a two-out walk for Westwood in the home half of the third before coming around as the tying run, thanks to an RBI double by Hutchinson.
The game was squared at five heading to the fourth.
Michael Giovino worked a 1-2-3 top of the fourth for Westwood, the first half inning where a run was not scored to that point. Westwood quickly put an end to the brief lack of offense in the bottom half when Sean Birch drove in James Bean with a sacrifice fly to right to give Westwood a 6-5 advantage.
The top of the fifth proved to be the game’s turning point. An RBI single by Jack McDonald tied the game at six before Max Goodman singled in McDonald to give Medfield back the lead at 7-6. A balk by Giovino with the bases loaded brought in a pivotal insurance run to make it 8-6. Leonard drew a walk to reload the bases for Nick Sheehan, who delivered a two-RBI single to right to make it a 10-6 lead for Medfield.
Stolzenbach worked his way out of a first-and-third, one-out jam in the bottom of the fifth, getting Pat Tevenan to strike out before Michael Sateriale lined out to end the inning. Following a scoreless sixth inning and top half of the seventh, Stolzenbach came back out to finish the job in the bottom of the seventh. Delorey doubled with one out, followed by a single from Kilgarriff and a walk by Hutchinson. Nelson drew a walk to force in a run and make it a 10-7 game, bringing the winning run to the plate for Westwood.
Stolzenbach settled in and struck out the next batter he faced before inducing a game-ending groundout to first. Medfield prevailed by the 10-7 final and Stolzenbach finished with a complete game.
For funny and insightful sports analysis, follow Mike Flanagan on his personal Twitter @fLAno0.
