Terriers defeat Springfield

Bellows Falls and Springfield had met twice before this season, each winning once. That made Tuesday's VPA Division 2 first-round playoff game the grudge match, so to speak. This one would go to the sixth-seeded Terriers by a 5-2 verdict.

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2016-06-01 / Sports Terriers defeat Springfield By TIM TAYLOR sports@eagletimes.com WESTMINSTERBellows Falls' Alex Groenewold takes a cut during Tuesday's playoff tilt against Springfield. — TIM TAYLOR Bellows Falls' Alex Groenewold takes a cut during Tuesday's playoff tilt against Springfield. — TIM TAYLOR —Bellows Falls and Springfield had met twice before this season, each winning once. That made Tuesday's VPA Division 2 first-round playoff game the grudge match, so to speak. This one would go to the sixth-seeded Terriers by a 5-2 verdict. While BF played well enough to win, they got some assistance from the Cosmos, who had their defensive struggles at times — and those struggles seemed to come at the wrong time. “It's Christmas day when we come to town,” said Springfield coach Rich Saypack. “It's amazing. Our pitcher pitched good enough to win that game. I've been saying all year we don't get beat, we lose. And we did it again. Errors,. I don't think we had many walks. I think it was not making the play when you've got to make a play. “Kudos to these guys, they made all the plays, but yeah, we're our own worst enemy, there's no question.” “I'm not complaining,” said BF coach Bob Lockerby. “It's playoff baseball. We won. I'm happy we won. I'm happy for our kids. I'm happy to get to practice tomorrow. That's what we're here for. “How you get it done at this point becomes a lot less relevant. We did enough to score runs to win a ball game. Our two pitchers did a good job keeping the other team off the board and defense played well enough to win. Capable of playing better? Yes. We're going to take this win and not worry about it and juts practice and get ready for the next game.” Springfield would get the initial lead, but the Terriers tied the game at one apiece in the bottom of the first inning when Zac Streeter scored on a passed ball. He reached base on a throwing error then moved to third when nobody covered the throw when he tried to steal second. Brady Illingworth, who walked two batters later, would score what turned out to be the game-winning run on a wild pitch. In the second, BF got another run via errors. Brian Green singled to lead off, Clayton Groenewold reached on an error and Reid Coursen was hit by a pitch to Springfield's Jon Hildreth connects during Tuesday's game. — TIM TAYLOR Springfield's Jon Hildreth connects during Tuesday's game. — TIM TAYLOR load the bases. With one away and Jacob Streeter at bat, the Cosmos got a 1-2 force out, but an errant throw to first for a potential double play brought a run across to make it 3-1. Both teams settled in defensively until BF struck for a pair of insurance runs in the fifth. Alex Groenewold led off with a single up the middle and one out later Green dropped a base hit into shallow right field. A passed ball allowed one run in and an error let the other score. The Cosmos were able to get one more run across in the top of the seventh before a heads-up defensive play by BF ended the game. Jon Hildreth led off the inning with a walk and Zack Tubbs hit an infield single that bounced off the plate and over the pitcher. After a pair of strikeouts, Matt Veysey brought Hildreth's courtesy runner, Levi Perham, home with a single. Tubbs rounded third and headed for home, then changed direction on the throw to the plat. While that was going on Veysey attempted to advance to second but BF catcher Liam Hackett was able to throw him out to end the game. Springfield scored the initial run of the game with some help from a Bellows Falls defensive miscue. After lead-off walks were issued to Zack and Ben Tubbs, Zac Streeter would strike out the next batter, but Veysey's fly ball to right was dropped, plating Zack Tubbs for a 1-0 lead. Streeter proceeded to strike out the side, leaving both base runners stranded in scoring position. The Cosmos would leave eight runners on base during the course of the game, five in scoring position. BF had its issues on the base paths as well, stranding nine players, eight of them either at second or third. Fortunately for the Terriers, their defense played error-free ball after the first inning. Springfield wasn't as lucky, committing four errors on the day. Despite suffering the loss, Hildreth struck out five, and scattered seven hits and five walks while going the distance. He only gave up multiple hits (two) in the fifth and sixth innings. Zac Streeter started for BF and went 3 2/3 to earn the win, striking out eight and giving up three hits. Alex Groenewold closed out for the Terriers, allowing three hits and one walk while fanning three. Streeter was pulled after reaching 75 pitches, keeping him eligible to pitch again Friday. But, had reliever Alex Groenewold struggled, Streeter would have come back in, so the pressure was on Groenewold to perform. “I was definitely a little nervous, but I know I can throw strikes and I've got a great defense behind me,” he said, “so as long as I kept throwing strikes I knew I'd be fine. I knew my defense would play for me. At the plate, Zac Streeter was 2-for-3 with a triple, and Alex Groenewold and Green were also 2-for-3. Illingworth had the other hit. “I thought we hit the ball pretty well,” Alex Groenewold said. “We had a couple down innings, but we bounced right back from those. I think that's the most important thing, bouncing back from bad at-bats, bad innings, just keep it up, keep the energy up and keep hitting the ball.” Veysey went 2-for-4 to lead the Cosmos. Hildreth was 1-for-2, Zack and Ben Tubbs both went 1-for-3 and Girard LeCouffee was 1-for-1. Springfield ends its season at 6-11. “There's a great light at the end of the tunnel,” Saypack said. “We've got some good younger players that come back.” Bellows Falls (9-8) visits No. 3 seed Lake Region (14-3) at 4:30 p.m. Friday.