David Carey, Jake Sak lead Greenfield Post 81 Legion Baseball past Aldenville Post 337 on the road (video)

CHICOPEE – Through the opening innings of Monday evening’s matchup between Greenfield Post 81 baseball and Aldenville Post 337, it was anyone’s game.

After Aldenville starting pitcher Aiden Consedine escaped an early jam with runners on first and second, his counterpart, David Carey, responded with a 3-2 curveball against Johnathan Vandal to leave teammate Jason Quinn at third.

Two innings later, Greenfield’s offense briefly found its stride, as Carey located some green in right-center field to help advance teammate Michael Bassett, who previously singled as well. Moments after the hurler stole second; Ben Martino connected on a potential gapper in left-center. However, it wasn’t enough as Vandal tracked it down for an over-the-shoulder catch to keep things scoreless after three innings.

“Give credit to Aldenville for an all-around great performance,” said Sak of his team’s opponent. “This was honestly one of the better defensive teams we’ve met this season, so it’s a credit to them. I used to play the outfield during high school, and for Vandal to go back on a ball like that is the toughest thing because I believe it was over-his-shoulder … it was just an amazing play.”

With both sides still searching for the game’s first run to begin the fourth, Shawn Davenport reached safely due to an error. Then, Tyler Baranowski’s sacrifice bunt moved him into scoring position. Two batters later, Sak delivered the eventual game-changing single down the third-base line to ensure Greenfield a 1-0 victory against Aldenville at Fortin Field Monday.

“Playing small ball made the difference tonight,” Carey said. “It was like an old-school baseball game — I liked that.”

Greenfield improved its record to 10-2 and remains in first place over Northampton Post 28 in Zone 1. The opening round of the regional postseason begins Friday, July 30, while Aldenville (7-6) has now dropped four of its last six games overall.

“During practice, coach (Bill Phelps) reminds us over and over again to keep it simple,” Sak said. “I had all the confidence in the world going into that at-bat, especially from all the preparation coach goes through with us. Then, before the game, he texted me and said: ‘I need a clutch thing.’

“And one thing our team will always remember from our coach is that pressure is a privilege.”

Consedine scattered nine hits over six strong innings in a losing effort while allowing one unearned run for Aldenville. At the same time, Anthony Rosado earned a strikeout during a scoreless inning of relief. Consedine (two) and Jason Rosado (one), for their parts, both compiled their team’s three hits.

Despite the regular-season finale outcome, Aldenville general manager Robert Dziedzic remains confident — especially after his team finished in third place just behind Belchertown Post 239 and Westfield Post 124 inside Zone 2 standings.

“Anytime you have a 1-0 baseball game, someone is on the wrong side of it, and it was us tonight,” he said. “Both pitchers threw great, it’s just, someone has to win, and someone has to lose — that’s all it was. Unfortunately, we both made our mistakes. (Greenfield) left a bunch of runners on, and we made our own errors so that it could’ve very well been a 10-9 game. But you saw Greenfield pitcher (Carey); he was great and threw hard.

“Our pitcher (Consedine) is a post-graduate, and he was equally up to the task. Greenfield is in first place in its zone, and we were fighting for second in our zone; you couldn’t ask for anything more.”

Following Sak’s run-scoring single, Felix Gutierrez earned a one-out walk amidst the fifth. However, it didn’t last long as he was soon awarded second after Carey balked. With Aldenville still trailing, Brandon McKenna attempted a sacrifice bunt to no avail as Carey picked off Gutierrez leaning towards third.

As Consedine attempted to even the score once McKenna walked and quickly stole second with two outs, Carey used one of his eight strikeouts to deny Aldenville its second of four opportunities with runners in scoring position.

“I just had to come throw my best,” Carey said. “At first, I didn’t know how far I was going to go, just in case they needed me for Friday. But, once I started doing good, I talked my coach into it, so he let me keep going, and he’s a good coach for doing that. I was feeling it tonight, and the guys had my back, too.

“Before the game, I told them just to give me one run, and that’s all we needed.”

Sak paced Greenfield’s offense with a perfect 3-for-3 performance, including the game-winning RBI single, while Cullen Brown also registered multiple singles.

As Greenfield prepares for its own regular-season home finale tomorrow against division-rival Wilbraham Post 286, who remains only one game behind them in the standings, Sak understands his team won’t last much longer without some changes.

“We just have to try and hit the ball,” he said. “That’s been our Achilles heel during the whole year. We’ve had great pitching and great defense, but leaving runners on base is what’s been killing us. We have to work on getting those guys in.

“To make a deep run in the postseason because we firmly we should’ve previously beat Belchertown to face Westfield in the state district championship last week. We’re far from over, everyone is on a mission, and we’re ready, so I’m excited going into it.”

Note to readers: if you purchase something through one of our affiliate links we may earn a commission.