Needham Post 14 Posting Historic Season
July 12, 2024
• The Legion baseball regular season is almost at a close, but Needham Post 14 has hopes to play into August.
After not making the playoffs last summer, Needham Post 14 is in the midst of an epic comeback season. With only two games remaining in the regular season, Needham sits at the top of District 6 with an undefeated record of 14-0.
On Wednesday, July 10th Needham had the chance to do something they haven’t been able to in 24 years. They hosted Norton Post 222 and with a win, they would clinch the District 6 division title. The last time that happened was in 2000, when their head coach, Ben Maki was a player on the team. Norton, who recently joined the division last year, bested Needham in all 3 of their meetings last season.
But Post 14 got going early in this one. Adam Hess started off the hitting with a double out to left field in the 1st inning. Tyler Karp (Rivers 2024) followed up with a single to put two runners on for Connor Falahee (Rivers 2025). A wild pitch allowed Hess a trip home, then Falahee hit a grounder for the RBI. Needham led 2-0 in the bottom of the 2nd. Alex Giancola (Needham 2024) stepped up to bat with 1st and 2nd tagged up, and hit one past the left fielder for another Post 14 run. However Norton would get their licks in, hitting a 2 run homer in the top of the 3rd to make it 3-2 Post 14.
The bottom of the 3rd would be the story of the game. A trio of singles by Hess, Falahee and Jack Mulka (St Sebastians 2024) would load up the bases for Charlie Ledbury (Needham 2025). He would follow in pursuit for the 4th single on the inning, bringing home one run and keeping the bases loaded. With 2 outs and an 0-2 count against him, Nolan Gannon (Needham 2025) made contact at the plate brining home another run. Mulka who tripped on 3rd base would then get caught in a run down to home plate, however Norton never made the throw home, allowing an easy run to come in. With 3 runs coming in it would be 6-2 Post 14, but that wouldn’t be the end of it. Giancola back to bat, and sends one deep center right to bring home 2 more for the 2 RBI double. A 5 run inning would put Needham ahead comfortably 8-2 after the 3rd.
Post 222 would get a couple more runs, but in the end it was too much to overcome. Post 14 took the win 8-4, clinching their first division title in 24 years. Nick Buckley (Needham 2026) led the way with a strong pitching performance in 6 innings, with Connor Falahee and Alex Giancola putting up 3 hits a piece at the plate.
Needham has previously won five division titles, 1992, 1994-96 and 2000. The 1995-96 teams each came in second place in the State Championship. Assistant Coach, Dan Brown was a member of the ’94 and ’95 team. Nick and Tommy Buckley are the sons of Steve Buckley, who played on the 1992 team that came in first.
The District Tournament kicks off next week. Needham will await their first opponent who compete in a play-in game, and host the winner starting on Friday, July 19th in double elimination format. The two top teams that come out of the tournament will travel to Worcester on July 27th for the State Championship. The Regionals are in Manchester, NH, August 7-11, and the World Series is in Shelby, NC, August 15-20.
The closest opponent to Post 14 is Franklin Post 75, who sit in second place with a 10-4 record. Post 75 are the defending back to back State Champions, with Needham as a huge threat to end that streak. These two teams will meet for the first time in the regular season finale on Sunday at 5 p.m. at Memorial Park in Needham.
Check out the game highlights from the win vs Norton Post 222 on our latest edition of the Needham Channel News!
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