Post 70 Relies on Big At-Bats to Beat Westwood

They say pitching wins championships in baseball but it doesn’t hurt if your team can smack the ball out of the yard also.

That was the case for the Post 70 Norwood legion team who relied on two home runs in the fourth inning - along with a strong pitching performance from Sean O’Neil - to cruise to the 8-1 win over Westwood Wednesday evening.

“I wanted our guys to grind out some at-bats, see some pitches and maybe get a big inning,” said Post 70 manager Paul Samargedlis.

Norwood delivered in the fourth when BC-bound Gatorade Player of the Year John Gorman smacked a two-run home run over the left field fence for the early 2-0 lead.

“It was a big at-bat, we definitely needed a spark,” said Gorman following the win. “He (pitcher Mike Stefaniak) left it up a little bit and I was lucky enough to get a hold of it.”

Post 70 wasn’t done there, as Anthony Perriello added a solo shot to left center to make it 3-0, while two more runs were added, one on a single by PJ King and another on an error in the outfield to give Norwood a comfortable 5-0 lead.

O’Neil took care of the rest as he scattered six hits over seven innings while fanning five.

“He’s a strike out pitcher,” said Samargedlis. “And when he’s on, he is tough to beat.”

After Post 70 relied on James Bussiere on Tuesday night to help beat Brookline, 2-0, the rest of the staff is lined up for a strong rest off the week and could help propel this 9-2 team into first place with about three weeks left in the season.

"After getting by Brookline 2-0, this was the game, we get it, and we could have a big week.” added Samargedlis.

Meanwhile Westwood continues to battle growing pains, with 11 kids under the age of 18, Post 320 Manager Dick Paster hopes his troop can continue to grow in the second half of the season.

“We haven’t played well,” said Paster. "We have a lot of young players and we’ve had a lot of growing pains, but my job is to teach them and mold them...the kids will be better.”

Besides Gorman, who went 1-2 and reached base three times, and Perriello who had two hits, Post 70 got some production at the plate from Jordan Davis who had an RBI single in the sixth and Brandon Davis who added an RBI triple in the seventh for the 8-1 final.

"They have come back on us before," said Samargedlis. "We needed every run tonight."