After getting the summer season underway with a 3-0 win over Braintree, the Norwood American Legion baseball team has been playing some good baseball on the diamond. After opening the season with a five-game win streak, Post 70 found themselves up against District 6’s only undefeated team. Franklin and Norwood found themselves in a scoreless battle before Franklin began scoring at will and handed Norwood its first loss on the season.

“It was a really close game in the fifth inning before they blew it open,” Norwood coach Paul Samargedlis said. “We made a couple of mistakes and a good team will jump on you and make you pay; Franklin did just that. However, I honestly believe that we can play with them on any given night.”

At the time of this writing, Franklin had themselves a 2-game lead in the District 6 standings over Norwood. The Norwood skipper, who has been coaching Post 70 for 22 years, has gotten his team into the tournament all but once and he aims on keeping it that way this summer. Norwood is currently 10-2 with four games remaining on their regular season schedule before the post-season gets started. Following their loss to Franklin, Norwood went on another five-game winning streak before being stopped by North Attleboro, 6-2, for their second loss.

Winning his 300th game is not a big deal to the Samargedlis, but by then he was only one win away from accomplishing the feat. Although things start at the top, the Norwood coach said it was all possible by the good teams that he had over the years.

According to the official American Legion Team Registration, virtually the entire 18-man roster is registered with a secondary or primary position designation as a pitcher. This gives Samargedlis extensive flexibility and should be a great asset to the team when the tight tournament schedule begins.

Mike McDonagh has been the team’s ace through the first 12 games, while Dylan Begley and Ryan Grenham have also impacted to Norwood’s success. Also contributing on the mound has been Bob Griffin and Kevin Hultgren.

Brody Johson had primarily found his way behind the plate for Norwood last year, but this summer he is making way for first year catcher Thomas Willard from Blue Hills.

“Thomas is doing an amazing job for us behind the plate,” Samargedlis said. “Brody moved over to third base and he too is doing a great job. I love having a catcher playing over there, he’s got an arm and blocks the ball better than most infielders.”

Unfortunately, Norwood lost its starting shortstop, Kevin Farmer, in a collision at second base when he was cleated and ended up breaking two toes. The Norwood infielder has been in a boot and the coach is hoping that he has him back in the field when the playoffs roll around.

Willard and McDonagh have been leading the team at the plate, giving Post 70 the opportunity to keep on winning. With only four regular season games left on their docket, Norwood is hoping to keep their status in the top four places in the district to earn a bye in the tournament. While the top four teams rest, teams 5-12 will battle it out in a single elimination contest to move onto the next round. The winners will take on the teams with a bye and continue to move through the District 6 Tournament in single elimination games until a champion is crowned. Norwood is hoping to be that such champion.