On Tuesday, the Blue Devils baseball team topped the Westmont Hilltop Hilltoppers by a score of 11-8. The team would then celebrate Senior Night on Wednesday but were unfortunately beaten by the Huntington Bearcats. This game had extended to the 8th inning, where ultimately the Blue Devils would lose by a score of 8-6. With the addition of these games, the Blue Devils currently are sitting at a record of 9-9, and sitting in 9th place in D6 AA rankings.
The top 8 teams advance to the playoffs.
Westmont Hilltop Hilltoppers
With Tuesday’s game ending in a win at Westmont, two factors can be noted in the Blue Devil’s success. The first was an overall solid hitting approach throughout the game, and the second was locked in pitching in the late innings of the game.
After the first inning, Westmont held a lead of 0-2. In the second, Bellwood would score two runs, but once again fall short on the scoreboard because of one run given up. This would be the last time that the Hilltoppers would be ahead of the Blue Devils however, because in the third inning, Freshman, Alex McCartney, went deep to put three more runs on the board. This is Alex’s first home run of the season, and he is sitting at a total of 7 RBI’s.
“It felt great,” said McCartney, when asked about what hitting the home run was like, “the team was super excited.”
In the fourth, Westmont would shut out the Blue Devils, and would go on to score four runs off of a grand slam. This would lead Bellwood to change pitchers from Chris Walls to Alex McCartney. Alex would finish out the fourth and fifth innings, and then would be switched out for pitching sensation Curtis Shedlock in the sixth, after giving up one run. At the end of the sixth, the Blue Delis would be up by a score of 10-8, but would still score another run in the 7th inning. This would end the game in a Bellwood victory by a score of 11-8
Senior, Josh Dorminy, would hit 3-for-3 and score two RBI’s for the Blue Devils. Along with McCartney, Chase Plummer, Cam Swogger, and Matt Berkowitz would produce from the plate by going .500 in at bats. Bellwood’s pitchers would also combine for a total of nine strikeouts, and only give up four hits.
Huntingdon Bearcats
The Bearcats would ultimately end the Blue Devil’s Senior Night dreams on Wednesday by scoring two runs late in extra innings.
In the first three innings, the game would be low scoring, where Huntington would lead by a score of 1-0. Vincent Cacciotti would start the game for Bellwood, and pitch up until the fifth inning. In the fourth, both teams would gain a little spark, and score three runs taking the score to 4-3, Huntington.
In the fifth, the Bearcats would produce another two runs, and would increase their lead by three runs. Bellwood would go on to not score until the seventh, where they would tie the game by scoring another three runs. Unfortunately, in the eighth inning, the Bearcats would score two runs, and then shut the Blue Devils out once again, ending the game by a score of 8-6.
A long series of strikeouts would ultimately lead to Huntington’s victory. Huntington pitcher, Ashton Steele, would throw 101 total pitches, and strike out a total of 10 batters. Josh Dorminy however, would lead the Blue Devils in hitting once again by going 3-for-4 with one RBI.
Closing
While Bellwood is currently sitting outside of the placement for playoffs, there’s still hope for the competing team. Bellwood has two games left on their regular season schedule, and need to win both for a shot in the playoffs. Bellwood will play Penns Valley today, May 9, and then take on Bedford, Monday, May 13.
