Shrewsbury Legion Drops Heartbreaker In Playoff Opener

The American Legion Post 397 baseball squad kicked off its 2011 postseason with the daunting task of traveling to Leominster Sunday morning.

Earning the No.9 seed in the Massachusetts Zone 4 playoffs Post 397 traveled to Pin Cannavino Field to tangle with second-seeded Leominster.

The visitors hung tough as southpaw Josh Desai did all he could do to keep Leominster off the scoreboard. However, in the end, an unearned run in the last of the seventh inning proved to be the difference maker as Leominster earned a 1-0 win and putting Shrewsbury in a one-game hole right out of the gate.

Despite the loss Shrewsbury, isn’t finished yet. It will have at least one more game when it travels to Wachusett on Monday night in an elimination game. Sixth-seeded Wachusett fell to fifth-seeded Milford 5-3 in Sunday’s other Bracket “A” matchup.

On Sunday, Desai and Leominster starter Mike Xarras locked horns for seven innings. While Desai was impressive (three hits, five walks, seven strikeouts) Xarras was just a little better. The Leominster hurler held Shrewsbury hitless into the seventh inning and registered seven strikeouts himself with three walks. It wasn’t until a Cory Loomer single in the final inning broke up the no-no.

“It was a great baseball game, what more can you say. Two great pitchers pitching really well and both teams bent but didn’t break until that seventh inning,” said Shrewsbury manager Frank Vaccaro. “We made a couple mistakes in the bottom of the seventh and you just can’t do that in a game like this. Leominster made some good defensive plays and they got the win.”

With the game scoreless and threatening to go into extra frames, Leominster scratched across the game-winning run on a bases loaded walk to DeVante Infantino, scoring Mark Tata with the lone run.

Shrewsbury had opportunities to break through in the early innings but Xarras and the Leominster defense prevented the visitors from breaking into the run column.

“I hate to be on the losing side but I’d rather lose like that against a great team,” said Vaccaro. “We fought hard and were in it right until the very end.”

In the fifth inning Shrewsbury had a golden opportunity to break through. With one out, Sean McGrail drew a walk and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Tom Lemons then smashed a Xarras offering high and deep to left field. Infantino went back to the fence and made a leaping catch right up against the wall to take away what would have been extra bases for Lemons. Mike Fussaro went down looking for the final out of the inning.

Post 397 had another crack at ending the shutout in the sixth inning. With one out Keith Kelly reached on an error. Anthony Gingerelli popped out to short stop before Kelly stole second base. Bill Theis walked to put two on with two outs however Mike Coggeshall grounded out to second base to end the threat.