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West Springfield's unhittable Wahl
When West Springfield sophomore Bobby Wahl took the mound against Lake Braddock in the Patriot District final on May 19, things did not go so well. Wahl was pulled after facing the first batter of the second inning, having given up just one hit but also five walks that turned into three earned runs. The Spartans went on to lose the game, 12-8.Despite Wahl's struggles in his previous start, West Springfield coach John James had no hesitation giving him the ball again Monday against Robinson in the Northern Region quarterfinals.
“Absolutely not,” James said when asked if he worried about his sophomore. “He's been good for us all year. He's a tough competitor. Bad outing, we shook it off. I told him coming into this tournament, he was still our second guy behind Mike [Kent].”
Wahl showed why he had his coach's confidence Monday, striking out a career-high 13 batters in a 1-0 complete-game victory over the Rams. He allowed just two hits and no walks, not even reaching a three-ball count until the final batter he faced.
“My fastball wasn't working [against Lake Braddock], that's what happened,” Wahl said. “I just got the fastball working in the beginning of the count. Last game against Braddock, I didn't fare too well. I just came back out here and tried to get the confidence back.”
Wahl had his stuff working early, striking out two batters in each of the first five innings and not allowing a Robinson base runner until a two-out single in the top of the fourth.
“Bobby was excellent,” James said. “He was pounding the zone all day. He was extremely sharp. Not a surprise to me because he's been pretty good all year. We expected to get a good performance out of him. It was just a matter of stringing some hits together and putting some runs on the board.”
Unfortunately for the Spartans, that was easier said than done. Robinson sophomore Austin Freer was matching zeros in the score column with Wahl, using the strong defense behind him to keep West Springfield off the board.
The game was still scoreless in the bottom of the seventh inning when Spartans senior Patrick Nutbrown led off with a double down the left field line. Nutbrown moved to third on a bunt by Jeff Haeuptle and came around to score the winning run on a single up the middle by Andy Stallings.
West Springfield advanced to play Chantilly in the Northern Region semifinals Wednesday.
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