Willows Drop Playoff Opener To Keene, 3-2

It’s a brand new season in the Central New England Baseball Association, and the Westford Willows weren’t able to start it off on the right foot on Friday night, losing Game One of their three-game series, 3-2.

Keene struck in their first set of at-bats, with leadoff man Sean Gavin eventually scoring off a single from infielder Lucas Donahue, although Westford would get even in the bottom of the first as Alex Cloutier banged in Zach Robins thanks to a two-out hit.

From there, both pitchers took control, allowing a combined six hits between the two sides until a controversial call in the top of the sixth allowed Keene to take back the lead.

Another strange call on a pop fly to third in the bottom of the inning stunted another Westford rally, and Keene capitalized as Jesse Cahill was able to tack another tally on the board just one batter after his second extra base hit of the game.

Robins came across the plate a second time in the seventh with a two out single from Ryan Thompson, but that would be it on a day where the Willows seemed closer to their early season struggles than their recent dominance.

“(It was) very simple, we didn’t get the timely hit,” said Willows manager Brian Thompson. “We had runners in scoring position, three, maybe four innings, but we couldn’t get the timely hit, simple as that.”

Thompson dismissed the notion that the two calls late in the game played a significant factor, as did Keene manager Jeff Blum, who saw the game as a particularly positive outcome given his squad’s 10-2 defeat at home against the Willows earlier in the month.

“There was that big hit by Cahill there in the top of the seventh, and I’m glad we finished on top,” said Blum. “We went .500 on the season, so winning our first playoff game was big.”