Duo shines for Milford in last run
Legion Post 59 starts summer on 8-0 tear
With the stadium lights shining overhead, Peter Ferrelli snatched what should have been a leadoff single out of the air, leaping from his position at second base to catch the ball as it careened over his left shoulder.
Two innings later, Bryant Johnson, his former teammate at Milford High, left his feet to track down a blooper hit to the gap in left-center, making a spectacular catch. In the bottom of the sixth inning, he came on relief and mowed down the final five hitters to save Milford Post 59's 5-2 American League victory over host Auburn earlier this week.
In their last year of American Legion eligibility but with one year of college under their belts, Ferrelli and Johnson have helped power Post 59 to an unbeaten start to the summer season.
Through the first eight games, Ferrelli was hitting .303 with an on-base percentage hovering around .400. Johnson, meanwhile, was on a tear, hitting .476, leading Post 59 in runs (13) and tied for the team lead in hits (12) and triples (two). In three relief appearances totaling 5 1/3 innings, the southpaw had not allowed an earned run, with nine strikeouts and two saves.
"He's probably the most focused competitor I've ever had the pleasure of coaching in my life," longtime Milford manager Rich Piergustavo said of Johnson.
Ferrelli and Johnson offer experience, leadership, and guile.
Ferrelli saw action in just nine games in his freshman campaign at Worcester State College, but the acumen he developed watching from the dugout was visible in the read and jump he got on the fourth-inning liner.
"It's always nice to have good experience. You've got to come up and make a play every once in a while," Ferrelli said. "Plus, it's a good way to get your team going. They feed off that energy."
Johnson, meanwhile, is back on the diamond for the first time in over a year, since his senior year as a Scarlet Hawk playing for Steve Manguso. His focus has been on football, as a backup quarterback at Bentley, but his competitive drive, one he put on display fiercely as a three-sport high school star, has always left an impression.
In his first two games, he went 1 for 4, and has only improved with each game. On the mound, he brings the heat almost exclusively - only two of his 24 pitches Wednesday were curves.
"Over the past year, I missed baseball so much," he said. "This summer, I came around and told myself I was going to play. For the most part . . . it hasn't been easy, but I'm kind of getting back into the swing of things."
Said Piergustavo: "He's the kind of kid that, if you were playing ping-pong against him, he'd want to beat you. He's just ultra, ultra competitive."
And while Post 59 has also benefited from the hot bats of recent Hopkinton High graduates Matt Collins (.526, 11 RBIs) and Mark Sanborn (.381, 6 RBIs, 1 home run), the team has a steady influx of youth mixed with veterans. Eight players are going back to high school in the fall, including promising juniors Jack Murray and Dan Muscatello.
They'll likely carry on a tradition of pitching and defense that Johnson watched growing up, and is continuing today.
The final straw came in Sunday's loss to Canton, which prompted Gafur to gather the squad together and let everyone speak. Among other things, the players were tired of talking about hitting.
So they took action - widening their stances, loosening their grip on their bats - and broke loose for 16 runs on 17 hits in a 16-1 win over Westwood on Monday night to improve to 6-3-1 in Zone 6. Every player in the lineup registered a hit, save for Tony Trafacanty, who chipped in with a sacrifice fly.
"A few of the boys recognized you've got to relax at the plate and have some fun," Gafur said. "That was pretty obvious" Monday night.
Mike Arthur of Franklin was slotted to be the team's No. 2 starter, but he strained his shoulder during one of the first practices and will not pitch an inning this summer, Gafur said. In his place, a trio of aces - Drew Leenhouts, Chris Horne, and Trafacanty - have helped round out the rotation.
In particular, the Northeastern University-bound Leenhouts is off to a great start. The Hockomock League MVP and Globe All-Scholastic, who graduated from Franklin High this month, had his best outing on June 15. Fresh off a nail-biting loss to BC High in the Division 1 South tournament, he struck out 17 in a 7-0 win over Medfield.
"He's the ace of aces," Gafur said. "He's as dominant as any of the pitchers I've seen in Legion over the past several years."
Both the pitching and hitting momentum comes when they need it most. They played undefeated Walpole on Thursday and Saturday, and battle Norwood today.
Brendan Hall can be reached at bhall59@hotmail.com
