Post 14 Comes Up Short in State Tournament

July 29, 2024
• Needham’s Legion Baseball Team lost back to back games this weekend, ending their season in the State Tournament.

On Saturday, July 27th, Post 14 competed in their first State Tournament game since 1996. This is the first time in program history that Needham headed into the tournament undefeated, however that didn’t hold true for very long. The faced the hometown team, Shrewsbury Post 397 in the first round, and it would be their toughest opponent yet.

It was a well played game from both sides, including an outstanding display on the mound from Needham’s Jason Waarich. But in the end, it wasn’t quite enough. Waarich held Shrewsbury without a hit until the 6th inning, allowing Post 397 to take a 3-1 lead. Needham was not able to get back onto the board after scoring their only run in the first inning, and dropped their first game of the season 3-1 to Shrewsbury.

Luckily, the State Tournament is double elimination format, so Post 14 had another chance to advance on Sunday, July 28th against Fall River Post 464 who also dropped their first game. But, another tough day at the plate would be their downfall once again. Fall River jumped ahead to a 5-0 lead in the 4th, and from there it was hard for Post 14 to get back in it. Back to back doubles from Adam Hess and Tyler Karp would get Needham on the board, but that would be the only highlights of the day.

Post 14 would fall short to Fall River, 5-3, ending their season with an overall impressive record of 20-2, reaching the State Tournament for the first time in 28 years. Nolan Bibbo (Belmont Hill), Tommy Buckley (Needham), Liam Field (St Sebastians), Alex Giancola (Needham), Tyler Karp (Rivers), Jack Mulka (St Sebastians), James Ko (St Sebastians) and Brendan Young (Belmont Hill) all finished their Legion eligibility with the best season Needham has put together in recent history.

Editor’s Note: Those highlights are now available below.

The video highlights ran as part of the Needham Channel News, a weekly newscast airing on The Needham Channel every Thursday at 7:30pm. The Needham Channel News can be found on the Community Channel: Comcast 9, Astound 15 and Verizon 29. Most Thursdays it also can be viewed on our HD Channel on Verizon 2129, Astound 613 and streaming on this site.