Displaying both brilliant pitching and an overwhelming offensive onslaught, the Norwood American Legion baseball team opened the Northeastern Regional Tournament in New Bedford with an emphatic 15-6 victory over Portland, Maine.
Backed by Harvard-bound ace Bob Baxter and a relentless batting order that pounded out 15 runs on 14 hits against four different Portland pitchers, Norwood improved its stellar record to 32-1.
“There was no key to this game,” reflected Coach Pete Wall near the on-deck circle after the final out. “We just hit the hell out of the ball.” Norwood opened the scoring in the first inning capitalizing on walks to Chris Maloof and Kevin Igoe, a single by Bill Goonan, and a sacrifice fly from third baseman Mike Generazo. The floodgates blew open during a massive third-inning rally where Norwood batted around the order. Maloof lined a single to left, Mike Wall drove in a run to knock out Maine starting pitcher Mike Davis, Derek Ghostlaw launched a two-out, two-run triple to deep right field, and Jim Delbou crushed a two-run home run just left of the 370-foot marker in dead center.
Norwood extended its cushion to 10-0 in the fourth inning following walks to Baxter, Maloof, and Igoe, coupled with RBI singles from Wall, Ghostlaw, and Ted Decareau. Meanwhile, Baxter put on a pitching clinic, firing a complete-game four-hitter over seven innings while striking out 10 batters and lowering his earned run average below 1.80 against a potent Portland lineup that had entered the Maine state tournament boasting a .345 team batting average. Though Baxter surrendered three unearned runs in the fifth frame due to an outfield miscue and an opposite-field triple by Scott Dutton, and Norwood added five insurance runs in the eighth, the outcome was academic.
Outscoring its tournament opponents 25-4 over two rounds, the two-time state champion squad advances to face Sweeney’s Post of Manchester, New Hampshire, at Sargent Field. The New Hampshire titlist advanced by defeating Brattleboro, Vermont, 8-1, while New Jersey runner-up Irvington downed Cumberland, Rhode Island, 7-4, in tournament action.
Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger
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