The West Springfield Spartans rallied from a 3-1 first inning deficit to pound out runs in all but one inning on their way to a 13-6 victory over a Madison Warhawk team that battled to the end but clearly missed their star pitcher who was sidelined with a freak injury.  To be fair, West Springfield used their ace, Patriot District Pitcher of the Year Bobby Wahl, for only one batter in this game as he had already pitched eleven innings in the previous five days.  The Spartan attack was led by Charlie Morgan who had four hits including a home run and Garrett Wooddell who drove in five runs including a pair of two RBI hits with two outs.  Mark “Pudge” Gjormand later noted, “Today was tough.  We came out aggressive but we pressed a bit once we got down.  We made some mistakes we hadn’t been making in the playoffs and it was tough to have to put some of our young pitchers in such a big game.  Still, you have to give West Springfield credit.  They played well and deserved to win.”

The Northern Region tournament is composed of the top four teams based on the results of the tournaments held by the region’s four districts.  The teams that win their district championship on Monday play a home game against the fourth place team from another district in the opening round of the region tournament the following Friday.  One of the risks for a district champ is that they go into the regional tournament overconfident and unfocused thinking they are playing an inferior foe.  That risk may be magnified when the newly crowned district champ is coming off the euphoria of winning its title by upsetting a higher seeded team.  The reality is that the assumed “inferior foe” is in fact a good team that has had a week to stew on its last loss, is hungry and has all its pitchers well rested for the game.  This year, all four district tournaments were won by the underdog and two of those four lost to fourth place teams in the first round of the regional tournament.  

In a Liberty District semifinal game, the Madison Warhawks twice tied the game with two run rallies in the first and fifth and seized the lead with a third two run rally in the sixth then shut down the Stone Bridge Bulldogs in the seventh to move on to the District finals.  It was probably the most complete game of the year for the Warhawks as they combined stellar pitching aided by several superb defensive plays with timely hitting and a dash of daring base running to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.  Mark “Pudge” Gjormand later noted, “Any time you get to see a total of eleven First Team All Liberty District (FTALD) players in a single game you know it’s gonna be something special.  We knew we were in for a tough game tonight that matched two great programs with great traditions.  We made some mistakes but we came up with big plays when we had to.”

On Senior Night at Marshall, senior Jacob Bennett came up with a pair of clutch, two out, two run singles to lead the Statesmen past Madison.  Senior Kyle Barrand came on in relief of Bennett and pitched four scoreless innings to pick up the win.  The seeding for both teams had already been determined for next week’s Liberty District tournament so technically this was a meaningless tune up game.  Mark “Pudge” Gjormand later noted, “I expected us to give a better effort; I thought we would bring more energy and that starts with me and the coaching staff.  I tip my hat to Marshall though, they stuck with it.”

It isn’t often you get to see two fireworks displays in the same inning.  Then again, it isn’t often an inning spans 45 days.  Back on March 22, the Madison Warhawks and Langley Saxons were locked in a tight battle in the top of the sixth on a blustery night at Madison when a transformer exploded and the lights went out behind home plate.  After a few seconds, all the lights went out and two more explosions could be seen in the distance behind Louise Archer Elementary.  The umpires initially declared the game over giving Madison the win but the Langley coach made an appeal and a few days later it was ruled that the game would be suspended with one out in the top of the sixth, a Langley base runner at second and Madison leading 4-3.