Mental Mistakes Cost Post 70 Victory Against Norfolk

When rain hits the field and the ball is wet, the level of baseball play can dip dramatically.

Norwood found that out Friday night, as Post 70’s game against Norfolk was hampered by weather and mental mistakes in their 9-4 loss against Post 335.

“This is the dumbest game I’ve seen Norwood play in a long time, “ said manager Paul Samargedlis. “Today you aren’t going to recover when you can’t make a play mentally.”

The hometown boys rested their starting catcher Brandon Davis who plays designated hitter in the lineup, while his replacement struggled to make plays. That led to an early 3-0 Norfolk lead.

“Yeah we rested some guys, but still," said Samargedlis. “You got to rely on these guys... There are no excuses on our part.”

Norwood started pitcher Brendan Cathcart, who didn’t pitch as badly as the score might indicate.

In the third, Norfolk scored two runs on two errors and one hit, and in the fourth Cathcart had a Norfolk player picked off at first, but instead of getting the out in the rundown, and error turned the play into a double steal and a run on the board for Norfolk to make it 6-1.

“I don’t care what guy I have on the field, we got to play smart fundamentally sound baseball,” said Samargedlis whose team dropped to 14-4 overall heading into Sunday’s game against last place Needham.

One bright spot for Norwood was Brandon Davis, who scorched a triple in the fourth and scored on a sacrifice fly by Jordan Davis for the team’s second run.

Throw in a well-executed hit and run for Norwood in the bottom of the first for their first run, and that was all Norwood could hang their hats on for the night. It was a game that Coach Samargedlis said he was going to “put away,” following the loss.

As the rain drizzled on and off, and the lightning and thunder periodically reared its ugly head, it was apparent from the start, that the boys of summer just wouldn’t be able to catch a break tonight.

“(I told the team) You guys need to come back and prove this was a fluke,” said Samargedlis.

Despite the loss the coach made no excuses and looks to regroup and play better against Needham before the playoffs start Tuesday in what appears to be a home game for Post 70.

“We will sharpen up against Needham and be ready for Tuesday,” said Samargedlis.