Milford sweeps a path to Legion’s Elite Eight
Only one American Legion baseball team ends its season with a win each year. Every other team that qualifies for postseason play is eventually eliminated with a loss.
In Massachusetts, teams vie for eight spots in the state championship tournament, which began yesterday (Aug. 4) at Riverside Park in Hudson and runs until a state champion is crowned on Wednesday.
The Milford American Legion team secured its spot in the tournament with a two-game sweep of Northampton in a best-of-three Central-West sectional second-round series. Milford prevailed 7-3 in the series opener last Sunday at Fino Field, and then wrapped it up with a 9-0 shutout on Monday in Northampton as Matt Collins tossed a complete game three-hitter to bring Milford back to the state tournament for the first time since it hosted the tourney in 2002.
The last time Milford won its way into the Elite Eight, it kept right on winning until it reached the national tournament in Yakima, Wash.
Grafton Hill, the 2003 state champions, reached the Central-West sectionals for the fourth time in the last five years, but despite a solid effort from pitcher Tim Thiesing, Post 323 came up just short of joining Milford in the Elite Eight in Hudson, dropping back-to-back games to Framingham last Sunday and Monday.
After losing the first game of the series by the mercy rule, 10-0, in eight innings, Grafton Hill manager Jim Kelliher called upon Grafton’s Thiesing to take the ball in Game 2 at Tivnan Field.
Unfortunately, Framingham starter Jeff Tardiff pitched a better game, scattering three hits while shutting out Grafton Hill 5-0.
Two of the three hits off Tardiff were of the infield variety, with Millbury’s Steve Rodriguez reaching on a bunt single in the sixth and fellow former Woolie Carlos Sanchez beating out an infield single to short in the eighth.
Thiesing matched Tardiff pitch for pitch, retiring the first eight batters he faced before nine-hole hitter Luis Rodriguez reached with a double to the fence in left field with two outs in the third. Rodriguez would eventually score the game’s first run.
Thiesing pitched seven solid innings before hitting the wall in the eighth inning, giving up only two runs and keeping a potent Post 74 lineup off the basepaths.
The only other blemish in the first seven innings came in the fifth when Victor Resto led off the inning with a towering home run to left field to push Post 74’s lead to 2-0.
Framingham tacked on a trio of insurance runs in the eighth after Thiesing passed the 100-pitch plateau. Despite taking the loss, Thiesing’s effort was nothing short of remarkable.
“The bad thing is we lost. The good thing is, their two pitchers are gone and Tim will be back,” Kelliher said. “Tardiff was just unbelievable. That was the best curveball I’ve seen. It was hard and it was sharp and it was right there. It was just unhittable. It was just a great performance, and they got just enough hits and then that’s it.”
While Rodriguez, Sanchez and Grafton’s Steve McKiernan have now played their final American Legion baseball games, Thiesing won’t be the only Grafton player back next season, as starting shortstop Mark Bradshaw still has two years of eligibility.