The Westport crowd cheered as Cam Leary walked in the winning run with the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh inning to give the baseball team a come-from-behind 3-2 victory over Mount Everett Regional in the Division 5 Round of 16 playoff bracket on Monday afternoon. The Wildcats move on to play Greenfield behind the former high school on Wednesday at 4 p.m. in the Round of 16. 

“Together as a team, we fought the whole game,” said senior center fielder Cam Leary. “We never lost hope. Even the last inning down by a run.”

Mount Everett scored single runs in the first and third innings off Westport senior Shawn Lavoie, who struck out 6 and allowed just 2 hits, 1 walk and 2 hit batsmen, in 61/3 innings of work. 

“Shawn was the player of the game,” Leary said. “He shut them down.”

Souza scores for Westport

Eagles sophomore pitcher Matt Lowe kept the Wildcats offense stymied until the bottom of the fifth inning. Will Souza singled, stole second base, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on a Ben Boudria sacrifice fly ball to left field to cut the lead to 2-1. 

The Wildcats loaded the bases and threatened to score in the bottom six, but Lowe got Lavoie to ground out to second base to end the inning. 

Lavoie tired in the top of the seventh inning. The senior gave up a hit to Heyden Cutlip and then hit Mike Devoti to put runners on first and second with one out. Head coach Jason Pacheco took the ball from him and gave it to his ace, Max Morotti, who took ten pitches to get out of the inning. The big righty struck out Nate VonRuden and got Sean Warren to ground out to second base to end the inning. 

“Max did a great job. He’s been that guy all year, shutting team’s down.”

Pitching change gone wrong

Eagles coach Jesse Carpenter went with his ace Brady Carpenter to face senior Ben Boudria leading off the bottom of the seventh inning. Boudria, the Wildcats dirt dog who caught three of four balls hit his way in right field, worked the count and walked to give Westport a runner at first base. 

“I knew if we got the leadoff batter on, that’s a sign that we’re scoring a run,” Leary said.

Boudria quickly stole second base with Noah Sowle at the plate. Sowle worked the count to 3-2 and after fouling several pitches off, walked to give Westport runners at first and second with no outs. 

Coach Carpenter walked to the mound and gave his son the hook. He replaced him with VonRuden who prepared to pitch to Vaughn Costa. VonRuden readied to throw to the plate and Coach Pacheco called for a double steal. 

Boudria stretched his lead and easily stole third base and Sowle stood on second base behind him. 

The Eagles were dumbfounded and the Westport fans erupted. 

During Costa’s at bat, VonRuden unleashed a wild pitch to the backstop. Boudria sprinted home and slid head-first into home plate to tie the score 2-2. 

Sowle ran to third and still no outs. 

Costa worked the count, but struck out on a VonRuden 3-2 fastball for the first out of the inning. 

With the Wildcats three hitter, Morotti, due up, Coach Carpenter visited the mound yet again. This time he told his pitcher to load the bases. 

VonRuden intentionally walked Morotti and clean up hitter Mike DeGagne to give Westport runners at first, second and third with just one out. 

VonRuden prepared to face senior Cam Leary, who had one of the Wildcats three hits off Lowe. Leary, a wily Wildcats veteran, was looking for a pitch to hit. 

“I was waiting for my pitch,” Leary said. “I was going to do my best to hit it into the outfield. We just needed one run to score.”

The senior, with good plate discipline, worked the count full. Fouled off a pitch and then drew a walk to force Sowle to home plate with the winning run for a Westport 3-2 victory. 

“I trusted myself as well as my teammates and luckily today we walked out with the W.”