Williamstown lefthander Johnny Earls and his teammates will head into the playoffs with a home game at 4:30 p.m. this Friday. The Blue Devil Boys finished the regular season with an 11-5 record and third place in the VPA (Vermont Principal's Association) Div IV rankings. Photo by Bill Croney, The Northfield News The Williamstown High Baseball teams split their two games last week but they only had to play one game.

Last Thursday the Blue Devils got a gift. Concord didn’t have enough players so they had to forfeit. So a phone call from Concord saved Williamstown a bus ride and put a 1-0 victory in the Blue Devil’s win column.

On Saturday the things didn’t go so well for the ‘Devils as they fell to Twinfield 8-4. Williamstown wrapped up the regular season with an 11-5 record and the third place in the statewide VPA (Vermont Principals Association) rankings. Being third gave the Boys a bye in the first round of the state tournament.

Their first Tournament game will be this Friday at 4:30 when the host the winner of the Twin Valley-Whitcomb game in a 4:30 game at Hayden Field.

Twinfield jumped out to a 6-0 lead heading into the sixth inning when the Blue Devil bats finally came alive. Logan Clark blasted a leadoff home run to get things started for Williamstown and when the dust had settled in the sixth the Boy’s of the Blue & White had pushed across three more to close to within 6- 4. That was as close as the ‘Devils would get. Twinfield got two runs back in the bottom of the sixth and the Trojans pulled away to an 8-4 win.

Coach Jared Hart was not a really happy camper with the loss – for a number of reasons. “We had a lot of errors both mental and physical. We stranded 10 runners on base in a seven inning game. We had won seven straight games but this loss ended that. Maybe this loss might wake us up as we head into the playoffs,” coach Hart said.

The Blue Devils dropped from their previous second place spot to third in the rankings with the loss. Had they won they would have picked up 5 VPA index points and stayed ahead of Blue Mountain. But Blue Mountain grabbed a win in their final game and their index point total moved to 50 one more than the Blue Devil’s 49. The Index point system grants 4 points for a home win in your division and five points for a division win on the road. Defeating a team of a higher division means five points for a home win and six points for a road victory. Williamstown and Blue Mountain ended the season with identical 11-5 records, Blue Mountain picked up a home win over Div III Oxbow earlier in the season while Williamstown’s wins were all over Div IV opponents. Hence the one point difference and a higher ranking and tournament seed for Blue Mountain.

Wherever you start out in the 16 team tournament it all comes down to a series of one game seasons. One loss and you go home for the season.

Win and you keep going. The Blue Devils will draw a bye in the first round and then play at home this Friday at 4:30 against the winner of #6 Twin Valley and #11 Whitcomb.

Coach Hart wants his players to be ready mentally as well as physically. “We have to be ready to play. We can’t take anybody lightly. Danville is a good example. They have a 3-13 record and some teams may take them lightly but they use their regular season as prep for he playoffs. When you see the level of competition on their schedule you know they will be ready for the playoffs. So, should we go up against them somewhere In the playoffs we know they will be prepared. We have to be ready to play against everybody, And I hope our guys bring their bats,” the coach said.