By Chris Wilson, Contributing Writer
NORTHBOROUGH – Northborough Legion Post 234 Baseball Team took the field July 20 to take on Framingham Post 74. With the playoffs just around the corner, Northborough pulled off a 3-1 win.
After the game, Manager Ken MacDonald said that his team has “a pretty good pitching staff.” That became evident against Framingham.
St. Mark’s graduate Gavin Gatusso struck out eight batters over seven innings while only allowing one run on three hits to earn the complete game victory.
“We have some pitching depth coming up, we’re starting to play some really good defense, and the bats are going to come around,” MacDonald said of his playoff outlook.
Northborough took home the District Four Championship in 2020. But the process of defending their title has not been easy this year.
Rain and thunderstorms have struck Massachusetts repeatedly in the past month, raining out a number of Legion games. As a result, Northborough has been playing games on back-to-back days to make up the postponements.
MacDonald said another challenge came from injuries.
“We’ve been missing a lot of guys,” he explained. “We’ve had injuries here and there and it’s been tough to get a bunch of guys to the field.”
MacDonald went on to say, though, that the team is up to the challenge with players “stepping it up and playing different positions” to help Northborough make up for these injuries.
Looking ahead to the start of the Zone Four tournament, MacDonald outlined keys to success.
“We just got to keep the consistent pitching, get the bats going, have a good approach at the plate, put the ball in play, and put pressure on the opponent and we’ll be in good shape,” he said.
The Zone Four Tournament starts on Monday, August 2, and will feature the top eight teams in the zone in a single-elimination playoff bracket.
As of July 23, Northborough was looking for a handful of additional wins to qualify.
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