Legion Post 24 swept by Braintree in district playoffs

The Canton American Legion Post 24 baseball team gave it their all, but would have had to play near-perfect baseball to beat a powerful Braintree team in the opening round of the District 6 playoffs. Unfortunately, Canton was swept out of the postseason last week, losing 11-3 and 3-0 in the best-of-three series.

Braintree used the long ball as well as the short game to beat Canton. In the deciding game last Thursday at Braintree High, Canton had two good scoring opportunities but could not come up with the timely hit.

“We lost to a very good Braintree team, but this Canton team really should be congratulated for playing hard and playing some great baseball,” said Post 24 head coach Colin Clapton Sr.

“At the beginning of the season we didn’t have high expectations, but we wanted to play some good baseball,” Clapton said. “Look at where we ended up. Our pitching, defense and hitting jelled at the right time. We are a young team and this was a great team of kids to coach.”

Braintree was second in the East division with a 14-3-1 record, while Canton finished tied for fourth in the West at 9-9, coming on strong in the final week to qualify for the playoffs. Canton last entered the District 6 playoffs in 2007.

Post 24 had to play all of its playoff games on the road because Braintree had the higher seed and because there were other games previously scheduled at Canton High.

In Thursday’s game, Canton’s best pitcher, Dave Roberto, took the mound and pitched well enough to win, but fell victim to several bunt plays. Braintree’s Chris Fox outdueled Roberto, limiting Canton to only three hits. Roberto, a lefty from Sharon, scattered nine hits over seven innings and struck out three. He threw a good mix of breaking pitches, fastballs and curveballs to keep Braintree batters off balance.

Canton had great defense in the game, completing three double plays thanks to the combined efforts of Drew Blake, who played an outstanding game at short, and second baseman Colin Clapton. Blake almost prevented two other infield hits, going deep into the hole to attempt to get the ball. Also, Post 24 catcher Matt Nichols, who had an outstanding year behind the plate, threw out a runner attempting to steal in the sixth inning.

Braintree scored first in the opening inning on a double and a single and then used a bunt and a sacrifice fly in the fourth inning to pull ahead 2-0. The third run came in the seventh inning on an infield hit, two bunt hits and a sacrifice fly.

Canton’s best chance to score came in the bottom of the third when Clapton reached on an error, advanced to second on a passed ball, and went to third on a single by Chris Barletta. Casey Sullivan then hit a sharp ground ball to third, and Clapton was thrown out at home. With two runners still on, Andrew Vinciguerra lined out, and Dan Friedman’s bid for a three-run homerun fell just short as the right fielder caught the ball at the 350-foot mark.

In the bottom of the sixth, Canton had another good scoring chance when Friedman walked and went to third on a double by Blake. But a strikeout and a groundout ended the rally.

In the first game, Braintree powered its way to a win, scoring 11 runs on 12 hits. The game was tied 2-2 when Braintree broke the game open with seven unanswered runs, six of which came on a pair of three-run homers.

Post 24 starting pitcher Matt Bernstein, who pitched well all season, went six innings and was relieved by Jake Fishman. Blake had a homerun for Canton, and Nichols and Barletta had two hits apiece, with Nichols hitting an RBI double.

Coach Clapton said he received contributions from every member of the team and saw improvement from the entire roster, top to bottom. Clapton said many of the top players could return next year, as Blake, Matt Potts, Steve Mullaney and Vinciguerra all will be returning to play for Canton High.

Other players on the team included Mike Oldenburg, Ben and Nathan Pedersen, and Brennan Sullivan. Besides Clapton, other coaches included Al Jackson, Bill Murray Sr., Walter Mann, Bob Brown, and Chris Schleicher.

Short URL: https://www.thecantoncitizen.com/?p=6747

Posted by Mike Berger on Jul 20 2011. Filed under High School, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.