Sagemont Comes From Behind Late To Beat Westminster

The Sagemont Lions scored the tying and go-ahead runs in the seventh to beat Westminster 5-3 on Friday in a District 3A-14 game.

Sagemont exploited the speed of the second and third batters in their lineup, as well as two key errors by the Westminster defense late in the game, to come away with a win over an opponent who battled hard the entire game.

Westminster finished the evening with three runs on five hits and six errors and left a total of six stranded runners. Sagemont produced five runs on seven hits and three errors, and left seven runners on the bases.

The game was decided in the top of the seventh inning. The speed of Sagemont lead-off hitter Ashton Martinez was a key factor in the infield error that allowed him to reach first safely. Shortstop Brynn Martinez and left fielder Sean Iacono followed with back-to-back bunts down the third-base line for infield hits that loaded the bases with no outs. After two outs, courtesy of a strikeout and a force out at home, Sagemont catcher Edison Rodriguez connected a high fly to left field that was misplayed and allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to score.

The game became a pitchers’ duel between Sagemont’s Andres Vazquez and Weston Clemente of Westminster. Up until the fifth inning, both pitchers had almost identical numbers. Vazquez allowed one run in the first and one in the fourth while giving up one hit in the first, two in the fourth, and one in the fifth.

“Our pitcher, Andres Vazquez brought it tonight. He pitched a great game,” said Sagemont Manager Wesley Morejon. “[Vazquez] gave us five strong innings then Edgar [Abreu] came in and shut the door, It’s all about pitching.”

Clemente pitched a one-run game through five innings, giving up one hit in the second, two in the fourth and one in the fifth.

“Our pitching staff did a great job keeping us in the ball game,” said Westminster Manager Nick James.

In a close game  with strong pitching, executing the small offensive plays and taking advantage of miscues by the opposing team are key to winning. Sagemont hitters had a few of those key offensive hits and used Westminster’s miscues to their advantage.

Sagemont catcher Rodriguez drew a walk in the first, had a base hit to right field in the fourth, hit an RBI single in the sixth, and reached first safely on an error in the top of the seventh. Third baseman Brian McCarthy reached safely twice on errors by the Westminster defense.

The Westminster team performed well throughout the game but had a few miscues that would end up costing them the game against a Sagemont team that pounced on those lapses.

“You have to give a lot of credit to Sagemont, they put pressure on our defense  to make plays and we didn’t do that tonight ,” said James. “We have some youth and inexperience, we got exposed in some areas and we’ll get back to work tomorrow and make it better.”

The Sagemont Lions fought all the way through, coming from behind being down by a run and winning by two runs.

“I teach our players that there’s going to be a lot of failure in [baseball],” said Morejon. “As long as they can stay mentally strong and come back for the next pitch and the next play they’re going to be alright.”

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