Canton Legion team bows out in District 6 playoffs

In a busy weekend of tournament baseball played in stifling heat, the Canton American Legion Post 24 baseball team competed hard and gave a valiant effort before falling just short in the double-elimination District 6 playoffs.

Matt Pigeon, pictured during the recent CHS baseball season, has helped power the Canton Legion team to a strong start. (Mike Barucci photo)

Canton, seeded seventh in the eight-team field with a record of 9-7-1, was in every game right up until the end but ultimately came out on the losing end in a pair of one-run heartbreakers: 1-0 to No. 2 Quincy and 5-4 against No. 4 Walpole. They did manage to score one upset — beating sixth seeded Norwood 6-3 in the middle game on Saturday.

Brandon Sherman was the hard-luck losing pitcher in Friday’s defeat at Quincy, played at Adams Field. Sherman threw six innings of shutout baseball before surrendering the game-winning run in the bottom of the seventh. Fourteen-year-old Anthony Tilton had two of Canton’s four hits.

After battling Norwood to a 6-3 road win on Saturday evening, Post 24 returned to face Walpole the next day at Braintree High School and they started fast, opening a 3-0 lead through two and a half innings.

Walpole answered with a pair of runs in the home half of the third inning, but Canton came up with an unearned run in the fourth to push its lead to 4-2. The advantage was short-lived, however, as Walpole scored two more in the fifth to tie the game at four and then took the lead on a squeeze play in the sixth.

Post 24 had one last chance in the top of the seventh as Nate Quan reached on an error and advanced to second on a groundout, but he was stranded there to end the game.

Catcher Matt Pigeon led the Canton offense with two hits and two RBIs and George Currier had a hit and scored two runs. Starting pitcher Tom Jasmin pitched into the sixth inning, allowing five runs on six hits while striking out five.

Despite the season-ending loss, coach Walter Mann said Canton had a good year for a young team and he was impressed by the team’s overall body of work and the fact that they posted a winning record. “We really had a great bunch of kids who got along so well,” he said. “We hope they come back next year.”

Made up of players from Canton, Stoughton and Sharon, the team stands to lose four players due to age eligibility limits but should return a number of talented players next year and be right back in the mix among District 6 contenders.

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Posted by Canton Citizen on Jul 26 2019. Filed under Beyond CHS, Sports. Both comments and pings are currently closed.