For Lake Braddock head coach Jody Rutherford, the Bruins 6-2 loss to West Springfield on Tuesday night means only one thing.
“It means that West Springfield is better than us,” he said. “We have lost to them three of the last four times. I lot of times, kids think that we are the best team in the district because we have been successful. But, they have beat us three of the last four times, so they are just better than us.”
Fresh off of a 7-6 win over the Spartans during spring break, the Bruins grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the first off of West Springfield junior pitcher Mike Kent.
The lead didn’t last very long, as the Spartans grabbed two runs in the bottom of the second to knot the score at 2-2 and then three more in the third. Two of those runs came in the form of a two-run blast by sophomore Charlie Morgan.
“We have him in the cleanup spots so we are confident that he is going to give us good at bats. That didn’t surprise me,” said John James, West Springfield head coach. “He is capable of doing that. He flashes that kind of power in practice all the time. He finally got a pitch that he can drive and he got a hold of it.”
<b>ONCE THE SPARTANS</b> grabbed the lead, they refused to let go. Kent settled down after a rocky first inning to allow only two hit over the next six innings. The West Springfield defense around him was solid, committing no errors behind Kent and erasing the Bruins’ final base runner with a game-ending double play.
“He is a competitor and when the going gets tough, that is when he bears down and he gets nasty,” said James of Kent. “We were confident that he would settle in.”
James said that beating the rival Bruins will go a long way in raising the confidence of his squad.
“Anytime you can knock off Braddock, it is a huge confidence boost because, over the last five years, they have been the best team in our district. This gives us a good outlook going forward,” he said.
“Our whole team is just getting better and stronger as we go,” said shortstop Bryn Renner.