GREENFIELD — The West Springfield Post 207 Junior Legion team came to Vets Field on Wednesday with nothing to lose.

West Springfield and Greenfield Post 81 played three times during the regular season, Post 81 winning all three matchups. After West Springfield took down East Longmeadow in the opening round of the Western Mass. Junior Legion Tournament, it earned a chance to avenge those losses against top-seeded Post 81 and did just that.

Tied at one going into the fifth, West Springfield rallied and put three on the board to take the lead. Post 81 failed to answer in its final three at bats, as West Springfield pulled out a 4-1 victory.

“They had some timely hits and we couldn’t come up with a timely hit of our own,” Post 81 coach Jesse Phelps said. “We had a couple of defensive mishaps.”

The loss did not end the season for Post 81, as the tournament is double elimination. Greenfield will host the loser of North Adams Post 125 and Westfield Post 124 on Friday at Vets Field in what will be an elimination game.

After a dominant regular season that saw Greenfield earn a 17-1 record, Post 81 will have plenty of confidence even with its back against the wall. Entering Wednesday, Greenfield was on a 14-game win streak.

“Hopefully on Friday we can get those bats going,” Phelps said. “No matter who we play Westfield or North Adams, both are good teams. All four teams that are left are good teams so we need to be ready. We’ll bounce back.”

West Springfield opened the scoring in the first. Matt Ashe reached on a fielders choice and was later driven in on a base hit from Will Morris to give West Springfield the early lead.

It didn’t take long for Greenfield to answer. Hayden Girard led off the bottom of the first with a single, swiped second and was driven in on a base hit from Hunter Donahue to tie the game at one.

It was a pitchers duel from there between Post 81’s Arthur Fitzpatrick and West Springfield’s Alden Rooney. Greenfield put two on in the second after a Nick Prasol single and an Aiden Shea walk, but Rooney got out of the jam without allowing a run. In the third Donahue and Bodie Burke drew back-to-back walks but West Springfield turned a double play to again get out of the inning.

Prasol singled for a second time in the fourth inning but a strikeout ended the inning.

It was a similar story for West Springfield at the plate. Fitzpatrick struck out two in the second, loaded the bases on an error and two walks in the third but recorded a strikeout to keep the score tied at one, and in the fourth, struck out a batter before Post 81 turned a double play.

West Springfield got going at the plate in the fifth. Jake Bennett led off with a double, Hayden Wykes followed with a single and Ashe singled to score Bennett and give West Springfield the lead.

Morris followed with a single up the middle that brought in Wykes and an errant throw to the backstop allowed Ashe to score and give West Springfield its 4-1 lead.

Greg King came on in relief for Post 81 in the sixth and struck out the first five batters he faced and recorded a flyout to close out the seventh. Post 81 managed just one hit in the final three innings — a double from Prasol, who finished 3-for-3 at the plate — as West Springfield closed out the victory.

“They’re a good team,” Phelps said. “That’s a good outfield and the best outfield we’ve seen all year. They looked like an MLB outfield.”

Post 81 recognizes 100 years of American Legion Baseball

Prior to the game, Post 81 held a ceremony recognizing this being the 100th anniversary of the debut of American Legion Baseball on the national level.

To honor the 100 year anniversary, Greenfield honored Tom Suchanek and Bill Phelps before the game. Suchanek is the current Greenfield High School baseball coach and coached Post 81 in the past while Phelps coached Post 81 serves as the teams’ chairman. Both played for Post 81 in their playing days and threw the first pitch out before the game.