Despite a blowout loss, Westport is still in the playoff hunt

Photos and story by Richard W. Dionne Jr.
Posted 5/16/18

It has been feast or famine for the Westport High School baseball team lately. On Monday, the team lost to West Bridgewater by a football-like score of 25-4. The Wildcats used five pitchers, three in …

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Despite a blowout loss, Westport is still in the playoff hunt

Posted

It has been feast or famine for the Westport High School baseball team lately. On Monday, the team lost to West Bridgewater by a football-like score of 25-4. The Wildcats used five pitchers, three in the sixth inning, to get through the game. Senior Kyle Avilla started the game, but had a tough time finding the strike zone, said Head Coach Jason Pacheco.

“Kyle struggled with control.” he said. “He had a high pitch count. I had to get him out of the game early. We have two games left this week and I need some pitchers to bounce back, so I can strategically move some guys around and try and save some arms for the rest of the week.”

Bridgewater scored 2 runs in the first and 5 runs in the second. Avilla set down West Bridgewater in order in the third. West Bridgewater scored 3 more runs in the fourth.

The Wildcats responded and scored 4 runs of their own in the bottom of the fourth. Griffin Lecomte, Ethan Correiro, Avilla and Connor Lecomte scored for Westport.

West Bridgewater kept the train rolling and scored 3 more in the fifth. Then the flood gates opened and West Bridgewater scored 12 in the sixth inning. Cory Sweaton and Adam Charest had trouble throwing strikes in the sixth. Coach Pacheco finally put in Ethan Correrio and he was able to stop the momentum.

“We didn’t pitch well. We didn’t play well. We struggled to throw strikes, and pitching is the name of the game,” coach Pacheco said. “Offensively, we didn’t do much. We scored four runs in one inning. We were’t too aggressive at the plate. We took a lot of strikes and expected to hit with two strikes. That’s not the way baseball works out. We got to be more aggressive early in the count, which we didn’t do. We struggled. We struggled.”

Last Monday, the Wildcats beat Holbrook 13-3. Kyle Avilla pitched five innings and Ethan Carreiro closed the game out.

“Kyle was very good against Holbrook,” said coach Pacheco.

The Wildcats lost at Sacred Heart 10-2 on Wednesday. Griffin Lecomte started and pitched two innings. Nick Collins came in and pitched the last four.

Many of the Wildcats’ games have been lopsided this year.

“We haven’t had many close games either way,” said coach Pacheco. “Whether we win or lose, I keep telling the team that we have to continue to grind and be ready for those close games. Because we haven’t really had many of them.”

“The close games that you can win are obviously your best wins,” he said. “But at the same time we’ve got to be prepared for them. When they happen and they count, we have to be ready to make the plays and play in the clutch.”

The team is in the hunt for a playoff spot. The Wildcats are 7-6 overall and 6-3 in the Mayflower Comprehensive Division.

The team plays at Bristol Aggie on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m. and Bristol Plymouth on Thursday at 3:30 p.m.

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A lifelong Portsmouth resident, Jim graduated from Portsmouth High School in 1982 and earned a journalism degree from the University of Rhode Island in 1986. He's worked two different stints at East Bay Newspapers, for a total of 18 years with the company so far. When not running all over town bringing you the news from Portsmouth, Jim listens to lots and lots and lots of music, watches obscure silent films from the '20s and usually has three books going at once. He also loves to cook crazy New Orleans dishes for his wife of 25 years, Michelle, and their two sons, Jake and Max.