Norwood American Legion pitcher Bob Baxter usually secures victories from the mound, but last night he played the hero with his bat, driving in the game-winning run in the eleventh inning to defeat New Bedford 8-7 at Mark Devlin Field in Lawrence. With two outs in the 11th, runners on first and second, and the score tied 7-7, Baxter—who was 0 for 6 on the night up to that point—worked a 2-2 count before smacking a hard single into left field. “It’s better than pitching a win,” Baxter said, adding that “some weird things happened in this game.”
The hard-fought victory keeps Norwood alive in its quest to become the only team in history to capture three consecutive state American Legion championships. Norwood advanced to face the winner of the Natick-New Bedford matchup the following evening.
Norwood achieved the win by demonstrating resilience, coming back from deficits on three separate occasions, including a four-run deficit when they trailed 5-1. New Bedford starting pitcher Kurt Dreher stifled Norwood’s bats early, striking out 10 and allowing only two hits over seven innings before tiring. Norwood mounted a rally in the seventh and eighth innings to tie the game 5-5. After escaping a bases-loaded jam in the ninth with no outs, Norwood surrendered a run in the 10th when Andy Perron doubled home Mark DeCosta.
Norwood immediately answered in the bottom of the 10th with two outs when Derek Ghostlaw launched a dramatic 3-2 home run over the left-field fence to tie the game 6-6. Following another New Bedford run in the 11th off an RBI infield single by Rob Belliveau, Norwood rebounded for a third time. Kevin Igoe singled to score Scott Generazo—who had doubled—setting the stage for Baxter’s game-winning hit. Winning pitcher Generazo had taken over relief duties in the ninth inning from starter Jim McCready. Norwood Coach Pete Wall praised his squad’s tenacity, stating, “I’m so happy, I can’t explain it… I’m very proud of the way these kids kept coming back.”
Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger
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