After a record 120 games in blue for Josh Frometa, the Westfield Starfires bestowed the ultimate honor on the Holyoke native and American International College baseball captain, retiring the number 24 he wore across three seasons of Bullens Magic as part of the team’s pregame awards ceremony before the season finale, an 8-7 loss to the Norwich Sea Unicorns on Saturday, August 9.
Westfield ends the season 17-42-2; the team closes the season having drawn a franchise record 25,792 fans to its 24 home openings, an average of 1,075 per game – also a record.
The pregame ceremony began like the ones the Starfires have held in previous years; the team’s host families were recognized, and player awards were announced. Among the notables were the Shayne Audet Pitcher of the Year Award, given to Southern Connecticut State University’s Cody Heselton, and the Most Valuable Player Award, given to Northeastern University’s Anthony Ruggiero.
The last award given out was the Adam Keenan Award, a Futures League award named after the late Adam Keenan, a former FCBL player who passed during the league’s inaugural season due to Arrhythmogenic Right Ventricular Cardiomyopathy. The award “is bestowed upon the player who exemplifies the outstanding attitude, character and sportsmanship that is synonymous with Adam Keenan’s legacy.” Since 2020, the FCBL and Keenan family has recognized one player from each franchise.
Westfield’s winner was Frometa.
That alone was historic – no player had ever won the award twice until Frometa, who previously won in 2023.
Josh Frometa celebrates his jersey retirement alongside VP of Baseball Operations Hunter Golden, Team Owner Chris Thompson, and Manager Paul Bonfiglio.
However, there was more.
After words by Vice President of Baseball Operations Hunter Golden and Manager Paul Bonfiglio, Team Owner Chris Thompson gave the signal and a banner was revealed in center field: a navy blue backdrop with JOSH FROMETA in bold white letters, his familiar 24 below. The crowd roared its approval.
The game itself meant nothing in terms of the standings, as the order of finish had been locked in place the day before; Norwich took a 2-0 lead in the first before Westfield countered with the game’s first run. Frometa put up Westfield’s first hit and was driven in by Boston College’s John Mass.
Westfield then packed the bags in the third, and back-to-back singles by Columbia’s Jimmy Chadwell and Frometa flipped Westfield in front, 3-2. Ruggiero then hit a sacrifice fly, and the Sea Unicorns handed the Starfires another run thanks to a throwing error.
The visitors clawed a run back in the third with three hits and then tied the game 5-5 in the fifth with another three hits as well as a walk and an error, but the Starfires regained control with a bases-loaded walk by Boston College’s Ben Williams and a Chadwell RBI groundout.
Norwich re-tied the game in the seventh; a leadoff CJ Nolan triple was followed by a hit batter and a walk before a fielder’s choice and error allowed two runs to come home. The Sea Unicorns then pushed an unearned run across in the eighth, which proved to be the game winner.
Chadwell, Frometa, and Iona’s Cole Silvia each had two hits in the finale, while Williams reach four times with a hit and three walks.
The final line for Frometa in his Westfield career: 120 games, 80 hits, 69 runs, 51 runs batted in, 55 walks, 26 hit by pitch, 129 total bases, and 161 times reached safely, all franchise records.
Those tangible marks will be seen as goals for future Starfires, and, eventually, someone will break them. The impact on the team and the city, however, can never be undone – and will stand forever where it belongs, at the center of Billy Bullens Field.
