Norwood American Legion Baseball Coach Peter Wall had much on his mind as he paced near the bench last night at Balch Field. With one out in the bottom of the ninth inning of the deciding game in the best-of-three sectional series of the state tournament, Reading had successfully whittled Norwood’s once-comfortable 5-0 lead down to 5-2 while threatening with runners on first and third. Wall had every reason for concern, but relief ace Bob Baxter slammed the door to secure the victory for starting pitcher Jim McCready, allowing Norwood to wrap up the series. With the triumph, Norwood advanced to face either Natick or Milford at Mark Devlin Field in Lawrence for the opening game of the next series on Saturday at 8 p.m.
McCready had pitched superbly for eight strong innings, striking out eight batters while surrendering just two hits and three walks. However, the right-hander visibly tired in the final frame. After fanning the first batter of the ninth for his ninth strikeout of the night, McCready ran into trouble as Reading strung together four consecutive hits. Seeking to preserve the lead, Wall called upon Baxter from the bullpen to stem the tide. Though Baxter walked Scott Hayes to load the bases, he kept his composure under intense pressure and struck out the final two opposing batters to strand the runners. “(Victories) don’t come easy,” Wall remarked after the nail-biting finish, “but it was a great one. McCready did a tremendous job for us.”
Norwood, which had erupted for nine runs in the series opener, relied on defensive grit and timely execution, capitalizing on just four total hits against Reading starting pitcher Sean Monahan. Norwood broke the scoreless tie in the third inning, establishing a 3-0 advantage highlighted by Ted Decareau‘s two-run triple and a defensive error. Norwood padded its lead to 5-0 in the fourth frame when Derek Ghostlaw belted a double to left field, driving home Jim Doherty and Kevin Igoe.
The game summary recorded Reading with 2 runs on 6 hits and 4 errors, while Norwood finished with 5 runs on 4 hits and 1 error. Winning pitcher McCready earned the decision for Norwood, and Monahan took the loss for Reading. Extra-base hits featured a triple by Decareau and a triple by Reading’s Gibson, alongside a double by Ghostlaw. RBIs were driven in by Decareau (2) and Ghostlaw (2) for Norwood, and Gibson and Booth for Reading, with left-on-base totals standing at 7 for Norwood and 8 for Reading. (Reporting by Tony Blasi for The Patriot Ledger).
Archival Note: This article has been dynamically reconstructed from the original public record print archives of the Patriot Ledger
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