Naventi, Lee Down Drury
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- He is a pitcher, but Lee High's Mike Naventi has been swinging with the heavy bat this spring.
After battling Berkshire County North Division foes for most of the season, Naventi got the call for Saturday evening's start against Drury.
And he answered in a big way, striking out 10 and allowing one earned run in six innings as the Wildcats left Joe Wolfe Field with a 7-2 win.
"He's gone up against those good teams," Lee coach Tim Shepardson said of Naventi. "He went up against Pittsfield High. He went up against Taconic. He also went up against Monument Mountain.
"So I gave him the gauntlet of all the big tems from the North. This was his first Southern [Division] start. So it was a good win for us."
The victory moved Lee to 4-7 with games left against Wahconah and Lenox to finish the regular season before making a run at the Western Massachusetts Division 4 playoffs.
On Saturday night, Lee had one of its best offensive performances in weeks, generating 10 hits.
The Wildcats also cashed in on five Drury errors and took advantage of some Blue Devils mistakes on the basepaths in dropping Drury to 4-8.
The teams traded runs in the first inning.
In the top, Evan Heath drew a walk, moved up on an error and scored on Lucas Bombardier's single to right.
In the bottom, Dylan Crockwell reached on a one-out single, stole second and third and came home when Drury pitcher Noah Miller helped his cause with an RBI single.
Lee took the lead for good in the top of the third
Colin Durken led off with an infield single, stole second and moved up on a Bombardier groundout before Naventi drove him home to make it 2-1.
One inning later, Lee ran that lead to 6-1 with a rally that started with Nick Langley's leadoff double.
He ended up coming home when Zach Bianco reached on an error. Heath, Bombardier and Naventi each singled to keep the rally going.
Heath (2-for-3, three runs scored) singled again to lead off the sixth and eventually scored to give Lee a six-run cushion.
Drury got one back in the bottom of the frame. Dylan Crockwell reached on a two-base error and went to third on a passed ball. After Miller drew a walk, the pair worked a delayed double steal to get Crockwell home.
Naventi ended the inning with his 10th and final strikeout of the game.
The Wildcats turned two double plays in the late innings.
In the fifth, Heath caught a shallow popup at short and fired to first to double off a runner. In the seventh, catcher Dylan Boomsma threw behind a runner at second on a third strike for an unusual strike 'em out/throw 'em out double play.
"We work on that stuff in practice," Shepardson said. "They have a couple of different plays, and [Boomsma] must have called it. I didn't. He made a good throw. I was concentrating on the pitcher. That's Kyle Kelly's first varsity experience. I was glad to see him throw some strikes."
Kelly allowed a pair of base runners but also struck out a pair of batters in the scoreless seventh.