White River Junction
Two-time South Division champion White River Junction, which had six hits, faces fourth-place South Division finisher Bellows Falls at 4 p.m. today in a nine-inning elimination game. To be in the losers’ bracket this early is startling for Post 84, which made the state final two years ago and the semifinals last summer.
The organization’s push to host this year’s tournament, a five-day, double-elimination event, was made with the thought that its team was ready to break through to the New England regionals. Such advancement requires a state title, however, and that will now have to be earned the hard way.
“The winners’ bracket road is definitely easier because you don’t have to play as many games,” said Post 84 coach Jarrod Grassi. “We need to come out with more energy and be better.”
White River Junction had roughly 19 hours of rest after Saturday’s 10-9, 10-inning defeat of S.D. Ireland and never managed to catch fire against OEC. Post 84’s Robert Slocum, who threw 2⅔ innings of relief on Friday, started Sunday. One factor in that decision was that Slocum leaves today for a high school leadership conference and won’t return until after the tournament.
“I don’t know if the 30 pitches he threw last night affected him; they very well might have,” said Grassi, who like every other coach, has to be mindful of more severe pitch restrictions imposed by Legion’s national leadership this summer. “But everyone’s going to get into situations where guys who haven’t pitched much will be out there at some point.”
Slocum, from Windsor High, allowed eight hits and six runs in four innings, striking out one King and walking two. The righthander surrendered single runs during the first and second innings and four during the fourth. He was replaced by Hanover High’s Moises Celaya, who allowed three hits and two runs during the fifth inning. Hartford High’s Walker Farley tossed the sixth and seventh frames, giving up three hits and two runs.
White River Junction built this season’s roster with the tournament’s pitching demands in mind. Those plans haven’t completely played out, however. College freshman and pitcher Wyatt Smith hurt a shoulder skiing during the school year and never saw action.
Woodstock High pitcher Owen Tarleton exited the team earlier this summer, and Windsor’s Duncan Frazer departed for a family vacation early Sunday. Windsor’s Seth Balch, a Post 84 player last summer, joined Bellows Falls and pitched it to victory Sunday, eliminating Rutland. That’s five potential pitchers who won’t be wearing maroon and black in today’s game.
Toss in the fact that White River Junction ace Jordy Allard, the 2017 Vermont Gatorade high school player of the year, exhausted his allowed pitches on Saturday and Post 84’s available arms are dwindling quickly. Lefthander Hunter Perkins started on Saturday and went three innings, allowing 10 hits and eight runs.
Pitching will be a moot point if White River Junction isn’t sharper elsewhere. After committing five errors Saturday, the hosts were officially charged with only one on Sunday, on an Allard throwing error from shortstop. There were mental hiccups, however, that didn’t show up in the scorebook.
During one, pitcher Celaya and catcher Tyler Hamilton collided while trying to field a bunt up the first-base line. On another, Celaya crept off third base with the infield back, a teammate on second base and one out. Kyle Hamilton’s ground ball drew the shortstop into the hole and should have scored Celaya, but he froze, leading Grassi to scream in frustration after a play that could have tied the game, 2-2, in the second inning.
“We got behind in the count on the mound and made mental mistakes on the bases and in the field,” said the coach whose team is 22-8-2 overall. “That wasn’t us out there today, and now we’ve put ourselves in a hole.”
OEC pitcher Matt Page went the distance. The righthander and Blue Mountain Union High graduate, a Lyndon State teammate of Post 84 outfielder Jacob Perkins, struck out two batters, walked three and induced nine groundouts and seven fly outs.
White River Junction’s Hunter Perkins had a double and a single, but none of his teammates had more than one hit. Post 84’s first three batters, Tyler Hamilton, Ryland Richardson and Jacob Perkins, combined for one hit in 12 at-bats. The hosts’ seventh, eighth and ninth spots in the lineup are a combined 2-for-16 during the tournament thus far, although they have delivered three walks and been hit by four pitches.
Today’s schedule includes S.D. Ireland against Colchester in a 4 p.m. elimination game and Franklin County and OEC squaring off at 7 p.m. All contests from here on out are scheduled for nine innings unless weather intercedes or the 10-run rule is invoked.
Notes:Post 84 player parents Pedro Celaya, Chris Hamilton and Jeremy Perkins comprise the tournament’s field maintenance crew while Shannon Spencer does the scorebook for every game. A host of other volunteers handle parking, tickets and concessions work and a banquet for all players and coaches was staged at the nearby Veterans Administration Hospital on Saturday night. … Bellows Falls player Kendal Heath is a rising Fall Mountain High senior who threw a perfect game against Newport this spring, striking out 16 Tigers in the process. The 6-foot-5 hurler recorded 44 strikeouts during his first three appearances of the high school season. … Brattleboro, the defending Legion state champion, was eliminated by Bellows Falls on Saturday, going two and out at the tournament. Post 5 was outscored, 11-0, during those games and finished the season on a 1-7 skid en route to a 19-11 overall record. … Exeter Post 32, the team Lebanon Post 22 beat Friday on the opening day of the New Hampshire state tournament, forfeited its game Saturday and was eliminated from the event. … The New England regionals are scheduled for Aug. 2-6 in Shrewsbury, Mass., near Worcester.
Tris Wykes can be reached at twykes@vnews.com or 603-727-3227.