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[Image: LeCouffe] Springfield's J.J. LeCouffe picthed six innings, striking out 11 and giving up two hits and two earned in Wednesday's win over Bellows Falls. Springfield- Cosmos baseball seized victory in the bottom of the eighth inning on a walk-off sacrifice fly from Greg Otis that scored John Stafford Jr. at home against Bellows Falls Wednesday night, winning 7-6. With one out and the bases loaded in the bottom of the eighth, Otis stepped up to the plate and delivered a well-hit liner to right field. On the hit of the bat, all Springfield runners took off because they thought it would drop. Bellows Falls’ Lucas Saunders made an impressive grab on the move and threw the ball home. When the catcher caught it, he tried to throw back to first to try to get the runner out, but all runners got back safely somehow. Instinctively, Stafford Jr. on third base made a break for home on the throw to first and made it across to score the game-winning run after the throw back to home was too late. On the final play, Cosmos’ head coach Jim Winslow, said, “That was a wild final play… luckily it worked out in our favor. It was heads-up baserunning by John [Stafford Jr.] … but there was a lot of luck involved with it too. It could have very easily been a double-play.” Before the extra-inning drama, Bellows Falls needed a rally to get back into the game. Trailing 5-2 heading into the seventh, the Terriers’ bats got hot and were able to rally for three runs to tie the ballgame. Spencer Clark and Noah Rawling had back-to-back RBI-doubles in the inning, and Rawling later scored on a sacrifice-fly. In the top of eighth, the Terriers scored again, putting the pressure on Springfield. Clark had an RBI-gorundout that plated McGregor Vancor to give Bellows Falls the lead, 6-5. In the bottom of the eighth, Levi Perham started Springfield off with a lead-off double to right before Stafford Jr. knocked him in with a single and later scored on Otis’ sac-fly. Springfield had 13 hits on the day. Kaleb Chambers, Stafford Jr., and Matt Veysey all had multiple hits for the Cosmos. Rawling led the Terriers with two hits Wednesday and Clark pitched in 2 RBIs. J.J. LeCouffe started on the mound for Springfield and lasted six innings. He struck out eleven, gave up two hits and two earned runs. On his starter’s performance Wednesday, coach Winslow, said, “J.J. pitched really, really well. Compared to his last outing… it was like night and day. He came out here and he pitched with confidence, and he was really our leader out there. He worked through innings well and did a lot of things right, and you can’t ask for much more out of our pitchers.” Clark started for Bellows Falls, going four innings, and allowing five runs on nine hits, while striking out four. Stafford Jr. got the win for Springfield on the mound, pitching the final inning, giving up one hit and one earned.
Good Job Cosmos!
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