Red Hot Westford Beats Chelmsford With Walk Off Hit [VIDEO]

While Gordy Thomas couldn’t get the last out he needed to no-hit the Chelmsford Merchants on Friday night, his performance was enough to help power the Westford Willows to a 1-0 home victory against their Central New England Baseball League neighbors.

The hit by Chelmsford’s Daniel LeCoste, who plays during the college season at St. Anselm College, provided the Merchants with what would be their third, and last, base runner of the night.

However, despite Thomas’ dominant performance, Chelmsford starter Anyelo Roman was nearly as dominant, allowing only four hits before a seventh inning barrage that should have been all the Willows needed for the win.

The last inning onslaught was led off by Westford native Alex Cloutier, and was quickly followed by a bunt single from Sean Harrington, allowing Cloutier to get 90 feet away from the game winning run.

Roman then intentionally walked Westford’s Alec Tice and was able to strike out Joe Gargan, and get Cloutier out at home plate when Dan Ubele looked to continue the Willows’ bunting luck.

The call at home stunted Westford’s rally, but Cloutier was still able to play the hero when he knocked in Ryan Thompson in the eighth to give victory to the Willows.

Chelmsford is now 12-14-1 following a loss the next day to first place Clinton.

For Chelmsford manager Bobby Gibbons, the geographic proximity and long history between the two clubs over the years wasn’t enough to awaken his boys’ bats it seemed.

“It’s gone back and forth over the years between us and them, a lot of our guys grew up playing their guys, so this is always definitely a game we want to win,” said Gibbons. “(But) this was another game where we were struggling at the plate, we’ve been having this for a few games where we’ve been struggling to get a run, and when that happens, it’s tough to win.”

However, the rivalry appears to be a one sided one, as Westford Willows manager Brian Thompson is more fixated on the teams his second place Willows (18-12) will be likely battling with for the pennant: Clinton, Worcester and Lunenburg.

He’s also fixated on trying to continue the Willows recent tear, as Westford has now won eight games in a row and 11 of their last 13.

“Three weeks ago we would have lost this game, we weren’t hitting, we weren’t into the games, but we’ve been on a roll,” said Thompson. “This is one of the best pitching performances all year from (Thomas). First pitch strikes, when he struggles is when he really competes. He kept us in this game.”

Westford sees their regular season end on Monday night on the road against Clinton while Chelmsford finishes out their string at home against Shrewsbury on Monday before finishing off the season in Webster on Tuesday.

Both teams will begin their first postseason series later in the week against teams yet to be determined.