BELCHERTOWN — Dom Badorini stayed within himself and put the baseball out of the park.

Northampton Post 28’s No. 3 hitter entered the batter’s box with one out and a runner on first base after a Jamie Fowler leadoff walk and a fielder’s choice in the top of the first inning.

Badorini turned on a pitch, sending it down the line and over both the Belchertown Post 239 third baseman and left fielder’s heads through the hazy air over the fence.

“I tried to stay within and caught a barrel, so I was happy about that,” Badorini said.

The blast gave Post 28 a two-run lead that proved essential in a 5-3 American Legion Senior Division road victory, which snapped Belchertown’s five-game winning streak and tightened the pack in the middle of the standings.

“Playing a team like Belchertown, you’re thinking it’s gonna be like a 2-1, 3-2 kind of game,” Badorini said. “To jump up 2-0 was a huge confidence boost for the whole team. I definitely didn’t think we would jump out to a lead in the first inning.”

The rest of Northampton’s lineup kept rolling in the top of the second inning.

Matt Walko opened the proceedings with a one-out single then went to second on a missed pickoff throw then third on a wild pitch. Cody Keel brought him home with a sharp single. Then with two outs, Fowler made it 4-0 with a sharp single and Griffin Smiarowski added another run with an RBI double.

To help cement the 5-0 cushion, Post 28 turned to Liam Flynn on the mound in the bottom of the second after Matt Baird opened with a 1-2-3 first that included a strikeout. Three of his Hopkins Academy teammates dotted the Belchertown lineup.

They all live in Hadley and play for Belchertown, while he’s from Goshen and in Northampton’s district.

“It was funny them chirping me after we were cheering each other all season long. They tried to get under my skin, but it didn’t really work,” Flynn said.

He earned the win after five innings of relief allowing just three hits with five walks and four strikeouts. Flynn paid particular attention to first base whenever his fellow Golden Hawks Cody West (single) or Cooper Beckwith (single, RBI) was on first base with extra throws there.

“He’s a goofball, so a lot of smiling between him and me,” Beckwith said. “We’ve played a couple games growing up like in Cal Ripken but other than that it’s just been live ABs at Hopkins.”

Belchertown (5-2) finally found traction against Flynn in the fifth. Andrew Fijal drew a one-out walk then stole second and third. Beckwith brought him home with an RBI single.

“Right away we were down. We had to fight back. We haven’t been down much this season, we’ve been up a lot, and it’s really helped our energy,” Beckwith said. “Once we went down, I feel like our energy was low, and we never really got it back.”

Post 239 added another run in the sixth. Tyler McDonald doubled with one out, and Hopkins Academy rising junior Alex West yelled from the dugout that Flynn doesn’t have a pick off move to second.

“It’s funny because they know my tendencies, I’ve been playing with them for so long,” Flynn said. “They know how I pitch.”

Two more walks loaded the bases, and McDonald scored on a wild pitch to cut the deficit to 5-2.

Ryan Schneider kept Belchertown in the hunt with four innings of scoreless relief. He allowed just one hit with no walks and two strikeouts. The former Amherst standout also became a victim of teammate-on-teammate crime when Post 28’s Elijah Rubinstein, a fellow Hurricane, robbed him of an extra base hit with a ranging, diving catch in center field in the bottom of the fifth.

Post 239 gave itself a chance in the bottom of the seventh. Fijal drew a one out walk, and Cody West singled against Northampton’s Griffin Smiarowski. A fly out and errant throw to third allowed the runners to advance to second and third. Fijal came home on a wild pitch, but a fly out ended the game with the tying run at the plate.

“Even though sometimes we weren’t able to make the plays in the field that we needed to, our pitchers stayed calm and kept pitching,” Flynn said. “We made the plays when it counted at the end.”

Kyle Grabowski can be reached at kgrabowski@gazettenet.com. Follow him on Twitter @kylegrbwsk.]]>