Westford Willows See Their Season End

Thoughts of a championship were quickly dashed as the Westford Willows were swept from their best-of-three with Ronnie’s of Worcester, falling 7-1 at home on Saturday in Game Two of the series.

Ronnie’s got off to a quick start, sending eight batters to the plate in the first and grabbing three runs off four singles, a rally that impacted the general tone of the game from there on.

“One thing we tried to do is put a little pressure on the other team, if we can score first, we know that will make it a little more difficult,” said Ronnie’s manager Mike Nosel. “They’re not going to be as patient at the plate as they normally would, and we definitely play better with the lead (thanks to that), without question.”

The only time the Willows seemed like they might recover from the shock of the early barrage was in the third when Westford’s Alec Tice sent a towering shot just inches from the top of the fence in left center, not quite enough for a traditional home run, but deep enough to allow him to touch all the bases regardless.

At that moment, it appeared that the game might be within Westford’s reach, and Dan Lagasse immediately followed Tice’s shot with a hit of his own to left, beginning to round toward second before realizing the leftfielder was able to reach the cutoff man and gun him down on the extra base attempt.

Just as Ronnie’s first inning set the tone at the plate for their side, Westford’s third became the symbol of their day, as they were only able to accrue just two more hits off Worcester’s Tim Henderson.

“We were right back into the ball game (after Tice’s hit), but we had some issues rounding the bases, and it just seemed to continue, so that hurt,” said Westford manager Brian Thompson.

From there, Ronnie's would get three more runs in the fourth, highlighted with a triple from Game One hero Shane Keddy, followed by another run that came in on a wild pitch in the sixth. 

Worcester will now face either the Chelmsford Merchants or the Clinton 76ers in the Central New England Baseball Association finals next week.