Legion baseball team still in playoff hunt

With half of the season still to be played, the Canton American Legion Post 24 baseball team finds itself in seventh place at 5-7 and just two games out of the fifth and final playoff spot.

Last week the Legion team endured a rough stretch, losing to Franklin 1-0, Norwood 5-0, and Needham 5-3. The lone highlight of the week was an 8-7 home win over Westwood in extra innings.

Young Bulldogs pitcher Liam Murphy was outstanding in relief in the game against Westwood. In the eighth inning, with a runner on second, he blew a high fastball past a batter on a 3-2 count and got the next batter on a groundout to second baseman Kevin O’Brien.

In the bottom of the eighth, Dan Friedman legged out a triple, and catcher Steve Mullaney, who has been playing well all season, delivered a sacrifice fly for the win.

Starting pitcher Jimmy Fitzgerald was solid though the first five innings, pitching Canton to a 6-4 lead before Westwood fought back to tie the game at 6-6. Canton went ahead 7-6 on a Westwood error, but the Wolverines came back to tie it again in the seventh.

Canton runs were knocked in by Drew Blake, O’Brien, Justin Rudy (a two-run double), and Matt Potts.

Although Canton hit well in this game, the bats were silent in the Norwood and Franklin losses. Legion pitcher Dave Roberto was the hard-luck loser against Franklin as he went the distance, allowing just four hits in the game.

Against Needham, Canton actually led 2-1 in the fourth inning, but pitcher Sam Larson got into trouble in the fourth and fifth innings. Chris Cammarata had two hits, while Mullaney, Kyle Delsignore, and Brennan Sullivan each had an RBI.

Canton was due to host Norfolk on Monday and then had a two-day holiday break before beginning a stretch of five games in five days. The team was scheduled to travel to Brookline on Thursday and then host Foxboro twice — Friday and Sunday — sandwiched around a makeup game on Saturday at Norwood. The team will then host Medfield on Monday, July 9, beginning at 5:45 p.m.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Jul 5 2012. Filed under Beyond CHS, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.