Canton Post 24 snags playoff spot, winning record

With an undermanned squad and several players playing out of position and many volunteering to pitch, the Canton American Legion Post 24 team made it into the playoffs, earning the fourth spot in District 6 East.

Canton now moves on to play Foxboro, the second-place team in District 6 West, in the best-of-three opening round. Weather permitting, the first game was due to be played Tuesday at Foxboro, followed by game two on Wednesday at CHS, and game three (if necessary) Thursday at Foxboro at 5 p.m.

Led by coaches Greg Lyons, Al Jackson and Walter Mann, Canton had its best regular season in the past few years, compiling a 13-11 record.

Team captains Jake Fishman, Nathan Pedersen, Drew Blake and Steve Mullaney all agreed that the team’s record — despite all the injuries and playing almost every day for the past two weeks — was a testament to the team’s depth and resiliency. They said most expected them to finish near the bottom of the division, but they never quit on themselves.

“If you had told us at the beginning of the season we would be 13-11 and in the playoffs, I would have been a happy man,” said Lyons. “We could have won a few more games, but what this team has done is just tremendous.”

Last week, Canton had four wins and two losses and came within a whisker of tying first-place Hyde Park (21-3) in the regular season finale. Post 24 beat Cohasset 12-5, Quincy 7-3, Holbrook 4-2, and Stoughton 8-7 in a game called by forfeit. Canton fell to third-place Milton 7-1 and to Hyde Park 6-5.

In the Stoughton game, Canton stormed back from a 6-1 deficit and trailed 7-6 going into the seventh inning. With the bases loaded and no outs, the umpire stopped the game for language used by the Stoughton pitcher. With no players in reserve, Stoughton had to forfeit the game. But the Canton captains agreed the momentum had definitely shifted to their side. “We were going to win that game,” said Mullaney. “We felt it on the bench.”

Blake, considered by Lyons as the top power hitter in the league, had three hits, four RBIs, and a 340-foot homerun well over the right field fence. Blake is hitting well above .300 for the season with several doubles and homeruns.

Teammate Pat Vartanian also had a big day at the plate, finishing with two doubles and a single.

The winning pitcher was Wyatt Golledge, who came in with the team trailing 6-4 and held Stoughton at bay while Canton forged a comeback.

Canton also got quality pitching performances last week from Liam Murphy, Frank Sullivan, and Pedersen. The coaches thought Murphy’s 7-3 win over Quincy was the best of his career as he scattered seven hits over seven innings. Lyons, who served as pitching coach for CHS this spring, said that Murphy threw consistent strikes, had “great tempo and all of his pitches were working.” Leading hitters for Canton were Rob Carmody with three hits and Kevin O’Brien and Pedersen with two hits.

Sullivan was equally effective against Holbrook, allowing one earned run while striking out five in a complete-game win. Down 2-1 in the seventh, Pedersen hit a three-run triple to put Canton ahead 4-2, and Sullivan came on in the bottom of the inning to close out the game.

In the 12-5 win over Cohasset, Canton struck early and often, banging out 17 hits and building leads of 7-0 and 12-3 to give a nice cushion for Pedersen, naturally an outstanding first baseman, who volunteered to pitch.

Vartanian had three and three RBIs, while O’Brien and Matt Shaffer both had three hits and one RBI. Mullaney and Kevin Powers each drove in two runs, and Blake, Fishman and Pedersen had one RBI apiece. Pedersen pitched six innings, scattering six hits while striking out three batters.

Kyle Delsignore pitched the final frame and also pitched well in the Hyde Park game in 95-degree heat, leaving after four innings with the team trailing 4-3. Shaffer pitched for the first time and threw strikes for the most part.

Down 6-3, Canton came back with RBI hits by Fishman and Blake to cut the lead to 6-5. Shaffer almost tied the game but was cut down at the plate on a bang-bang play. In other game highlights, a Hyde Park batter was called out for using an illegal bat and Drew Maidment had his first hit for Post 24.

Lyons said he appreciated the willingness of many of the players to pitch while the team was hit by injuries and by AAU team scheduling.

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Posted by Mike Berger on Jul 25 2013. Filed under Beyond CHS, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.