WESTFIELD – Jayden Novak remained confident despite the No. 3 New Britain Bees recording five combined runs during the fifth and sixth innings to move ahead during Game One of the Futures League semifinals Monday night against the No. 2 Westfield Starfires.
“This is the playoffs, so it’s win or lose,” Novak said. “Everyone wants to win because we love each other. During the game, though, there were some costly walks and hits. And when we were once down by one, we reminded ourselves that we were down but not out and would stay through it.”
As Westfield entered the bottom of the ninth inning down by one, the optimism grew as its opening three batters reached base. After failing to connect on back-to-back fastballs against New Britain reliever Trey Deitelbaum, Novak took a deep breath and thought curveball for the next pitch.
Dovak’s instincts were correct, as the freshman connected for an eventual walk-off grand slam to lead Westfield to an 8-5 comeback win against New Britain at Bullens Field on Monday.
“I was a little early on the first two fastball pitches,” Novak said. “So I thought (Deitelbaum) might try and fool me on a curveball moving forward. So I knew I had to sit back and relax. And from there, I trusted myself to remain patient and waited as everything fell through.
“Running down third base and seeing everyone huddling around the plate was a dream. You see that happen in the pros … it was awesome, and I loved it.”
Behind Novak’s 2-for-5 performance, which included a game-high six RBIs, the Starfires improved to 35-22 as they claimed a 1-0 lead in this best-of-three series.
Aidan Redahan, Taylor Gaspar, Danny Hussey, and Jackson Haker recorded two of their team’s 13 combined hits. Camden Thomas, meanwhile, pitched a scoreless ninth inning.
Despite Slotter striking out four batters across three scoreless innings, the Bees moved to 30-26. They will now look to keep their postseason hopes alive as they welcome the Starfires to New Britain Stadium for Game Two of the FCBL semifinals on Tuesday at 6 p.m.
“I’m honestly speechless because that was stunning,” said Westfield Starfires manager Paul Bonfiglio of the outcome. “We’re hoping to finish it tomorrow because returning from that loss is pretty tough. I think we just needed to relax. I told the guys during the last inning to stop chasing stuff, getting jumpy, and just see the ball and react.
“I think the pressure was getting to us during the game. So for them to shed that in the last inning with those great at-bats was unbelievable.”
Despite multiple first-inning walks for New Britain during the top of the first inning, Westfield’s defense countered with a 4-6-3 double play and a fly out to center field to keep things scoreless. After back-to-back outs, it seemed like the Starfires’ offense might go silent during the bottom half of the inning.
But that wasn’t the case, as Gaspar reached via infield error to keep the frame alive. Hussey then found some green in the outfield to ensure Westfield had multiple runners in scoring position. And that proved costly, as Novak countered with a two-run single to right-center field to move the Starfires ahead 2-0 through one inning.
The Bees made things interesting during the ensuing top half, as Justin Hackett and Ryan Perez earned back-to-back, two-out walks. Both runners then moved into scoring position after a wild pitch. But the momentum was shortlived, as John LaFleur stranded New Britain’s fourth combined runner with a routine flyout to keep Westfield ahead through two innings of action.
Westfield quickly took advantage of another missed opportunity.
As the road team could not score another set of runners, Gaspar countered with a leadoff solo home run to begin the bottom of the third inning. The festivities continued as Hussey followed with his third blast of the season to extend the Starfires cushion to 4-0 through three innings.
Westfield’s offense controlled the outcome through the opening three innings of action. But with Freddy Forgione on first base with two outs during the top of the fourth, the Bees attempted to cut into their deficit as Hackett sent a drive to the left-field corner.
It wasn’t enough, as Holyoke native Josh Frometa made an impressive defensive striding catch to keep the home team ahead. That was an essential play, as Slotter entered the innings bottom half for starting pitcher TJ Winn.
And it wasn’t the most accessible entrance, as three of the opening four batters reached to load the bases with one out. But that didn’t tell the complete story, as Hussey ultimately grounded into a 4-6-3 double play to end the potential threat and keep it 4-0 after four innings of action.
The fifth inning told a different story, though, as the Bees’ opening three batters reached base safely. Despite an infield flyout by Daniel Perez, teammate Kyle Carlson responded with a run-scoring walk to score New Britain’s first run of the game.
As Gabriel Tirado connected for a deep single to plate LaFleur, things only worsened for Westfield moving forward. Forgione then recorded a sacrifice fly to center field and scored Ryan Scialabba from third base with two outs in the frame.
Despite being one out away from escaping further damage, the Starfires were unable to maintain their lead as Hackett earned the second run-scoring walk of the frame to help the Bees even the score entering the bottom of the fifth inning.
“Walks were contagious tonight,” Bonfiglio said. “In the last week or so, we’ve had to spend a lot of time on pitching. It’s unfortunate how that went down, but our guys dug deep tonight, and I couldn’t be more proud of the pitching staff.
“Though the statistics won’t show a great game from them, I know they dug deep and tried to find something with just a little bit of gas left in the tank.”
New Britain earned a bases-loaded opportunity with no outs for the second consecutive inning. Like the previous frame, the Bees took advantage of the situation. With no outs and three runners on base in a tie game, Carlson grounded into a run-scoring, 6-4-3 double play that moved their team ahead through six innings of action.
It wasn’t enough, though, as the Starfires earned an impressive comeback victory to move themselves one game away from competing for their team’s first league championship.
“Our energy was the difference-maker for sure,” Novak said. “Everyone was getting loud and showing support for each other. I had two previous strikeouts, so I felt down during the game. But all the guys responded by trying to pick me up and help me forget about it.”
