O'Brien's Off Speed Magic Fends off Ronnie's in Littleton

The regular season’s almost over in the Central New England Baseball Association, and the Westford Willows look like they’re going to be in contention for a championship at this rate.

Last night in Littleton, the Willows had little trouble with Ronnie’s of Worcester, defeating the visitors by a margin of 9-2.

Ronnie’s, who had held first place in the league as recently as last week, fell behind early as the Willows got four of their first five men on, capped off by a single from Sean Harrington that brought two runners home.

Westford got another run in the second, although Worcester was able to get onto the board in the fifth when Matt Ditullio brought home Shane Keddy on a shot to center that was deep, but not deep enough for the a triple, as Ditullio was narrowly caught heading into third on the hit.

That would prove crucial as the Willows tore the game open in the bottom of the fifth, getting five men on base and bringing home four, followed by another pair of runs in the sixth.

Ronnie’s was able to take a consolation run home with them in the seventh, but it was nowhere near enough on a night where they appeared flat, a flatness that Ronnie’s manager Mike Nosel hopes is temporary.

“I’d rather see us have a little slump now prior to the end of the season,” said Nosel, whose team has five games left to play. “If this was happening in playoff time, I’d be a little more concerned.”

While Worcester’s pitching woes played a large part in the defeat, Nosel believes that the off speed mastery of Westford pitcher Casey O’Brien was the true key to his side’s downfall on this night.

“Sometimes when you get into a hitting slump, the last thing you want to do is see a guy like Casey O’Brien that pitches off speed,” said Nosel. “I think that upset our hitters’ timing at the plate. We’ve been struggling hitting the past few games and we continued tonight because he pitched a great game.”

Likewise, Willows manager Brian Thompson had nothing but praise for the Southern New Hampshire University hurler, who was able to scatter Worcester’s eight hits on the evening.

“They’ve got some real big hitters and when they get up there, they want to hit fastballs, they want to hit stuff in the mid 80s, and he was throwing it around 78,” said Thompson.  “They hit a lot of bombs, but we catch them, and that’s what he does.”

At the plate, it was a tremendous night for Alec Tice, who went 3 for 4 with three doubles and four RBIs, as well as Harrington, who was able to grab a pair of RBI along with his two hits.

With the win, the Willows climb to 17-12, just three games behind the league leading Clinton 76ers.

They return to the diamond on Friday night at home in Littleton against the Chelmsford Merchants.