It was a great day of baseball for the Deerfield Nine on Saturday, as they came away victorious in the Walker Invitational Baseball Tournament at Choate. Deerfield jumped out to an early lead against Choate in the first game and never looked back, winning by a score of 10-4. Luke Barkowski went the full 7 innings on the mound, and the Big Green bats exploded for 16 hits against Choate pitching. In the championship game, Deerfield faced an NMH team which they had split against in regular season play. Another sharp and determined effort on the mound from Nolan Doyle proved to be too much for the Hogger batsmen, as Doyle dazzled for 6 innings of shut-out baseball. Billy ONeil came in to close the door in 1,2, 3 fashion in the 7th, and Deerfield defeated NMH 6-0 to win their second Walker Tournament in as many appearances. Nick Goss’s 5 RBIs and Niko Grupen’s (5 for 9) day at the plate led the offensive charge for the Big Green, but both games proudly went down as solid and complete team victories. Excellent pitching, tight defense, aggressive and heady base-running, situational hitting, and a tremendous Deerfield spirit were all on display Saturday. One couldn’t have scripted a finer ending for this hard-working and tenacious ball club.
