Concord Post 158 Gets Defensive

Chugging around second base, it was clear Lorenzo Papa had his mind set on an inside-the-park home run. Too bad Concord Post 158 second baseman Mike Taylor had a say on the matter.

Wakefield Post 63's first baseman's deep drive in the fourth inning had sailed over the head of Concord center fielder Andreas Valhouli-Farb and bounced against the chain-link fence in one of the deepest parts of the Emerson Playground diamond. Papa was preparing to round third by the time the ball was relayed to the infield.

"I thought we had a shot to get him," Taylor said. "Because, I mean, you never know."

The throw sailed out of the reach of shortstop Dylan Katz-Wicks. Good thing Taylor was there to back him up. His relay to home plate was high, but still gave catcher Ben Price enough time to stretch for it, block the plate and slap a tag on Papa.

Despite three innings still to be played, the opening game of the inaugural Chairman's Cup was essentially decided on the 8-4-2 putout. Of course the two sides played out the rest of the game with Concord pulling out a 5-3 victory.

"I thought it was a great win," Taylor, who went 1-for-3 at the plate with an RBI, said. "Everything gets more competitive in the playoffs."

Down 4-2 at the time, momentum built in Wakefield's favor with each step closer to home plate Papa took rounding the bases. But when his slide came up short it seemed the entire Post 63 squad crashed into Price's shin guard.

"Big momentum turn right there, obviously," Post 158 coach John Morrissey said. "The kid deserved a home run for hitting it that far, but we executed the play. That's the biggest play of the game because the momentum swung back to us."

Concord (11-9) gladly accepted the stolen momentum and used it to join the winners' bracket of the District 5 postseason tournament, which contains all 16 teams that didn't qualify for the state sectionals.

Concord plays again Wednesday at Natick at 7:30 p.m.

Seizing opportunities when they arose was an overriding theme for the home team. Post 158 went all Dead Poet's Society in scoring twice on two-out hits, once on a passed ball and once on a throwing error.

Late in the regular season, Morrissey was harping on his team's inability to make things happen in pressure situations. Now, he's singing the praises of its prowess in the clutch.

"We got the hits with two outs," Morrissey said, "and like we talked about before, you need to do that."

In the first inning, Concord's Pete Castrichini tied the game at 2-2 with a two-out single. Wakefield had gone up by two in the top of the inning, but Castrichini blooped a base hit into center field to score Brendan Canavan (2-for-3, two runs scored). Taylor drove in Katz-Wicks (2-for-3, RBI, run, stolen base) with a single earlier in the frame.

Concord added single runs in the second, fourth and fifth innings. Alex Nardone walked, stole second and scored on a Katz-Wicks single with two outs in the second and Michael Woo singled for his only hit, stole second, advanced to third on a Nardone grounder and scored on a passed ball in the fourth.

In the fifth, Canavan singled, advanced to second on a throwing error by the Wakefield pitcher on a pickoff attempt and scored on an error by the shortstop.

Meanwhile, Concord starter Jake Anzer was shutting down Post 63. He went the first 5 1/3 innings, scattering six hits and allowing three runs (two earned).

Anzer had set down nine straight when Papa blasted what turned out to be his triple to center field. Wakefield chased Concord's starter from the game with back-to-back singles (one of which eventually scored on a sac fly) in the sixth.