Pittsfield Americans Win Little League Sectional
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- There are a lot of ways to look at the dominance of the Pittsfield American Little League All-Stars in their Massachusetts Section 1 tournament run.
Here is one way to put things in perspective: In one swing of the bat on Saturday afternoon, Brendan Stannard drove in more runs than Pittsfield allowed in three games.
And he did the same thing again the next time he went to the plate.
Stannard went 3-for-3 with two grand slams and nine RBIs to lead Pittsfield to a 20-0 win over Holden and a 3-0 record in the four-team, double-elimination tournament.
With the win, Pittsfield advances to the four-team state final that begins on Thursday in Westwood.
Pittsfield outscored its opponents 46-3 starting with Wednesday’s 11-1 win at Westfield -- in retrospect, the closest game of the bunch.
“We’re hitting the ball really well,” Stannard said. “It’s amazing. It’s a heck of a ride, too. Now we’re off to the state tournament. It’s been a lot of fun.”
And a lot of short days. Pittsfield won all three of its games by the “mercy” rule, ending Wednesday’s in the fifth and Thursday’s and Saturday’s after four innings of play.
All those early celebrations are a credit to some early mornings, Stannard said.
“Definitely, hitting early in the morning every day from 8 to 10,” he said. “It’s a huge difference.”
And even after posting a sizable margin against Holden on Thursday, the Americans had no problem refocusing for the job at hand against the same team two days later, Pittsfield coach Ty Perrault said.
“This group, when it comes time to play -- they’re very loose, but when it comes time to play, they get ready,” Perrault said just before being doused with water by his players.
“We’re really proud of them. They’re a great group of kids, and the families, the younger brothers -- it’s just one big family.”
And it two big innings on Saturday at Deming Field.
The first came in the top of the third when the designated visitors scored 10 runs before Holden could record an out.
It started with a leadoff home run by Nolan DeGroff. After Josh Lennon and Luke Mele singled and Patrick Rindfuss drew a walk, Stannard launched a grand slam to make it 5-0.
Pittsfield quickly reloaded the bases for Shane Bernardo, who doubled home a pair.
That brought DeGroff back to the plate, and he hit his second homer of the inning to make it 10-0.
Stannard drew a bases loaded walk his next time up, and the Americans scored two more runs off ground ball outs to make it 13-0 going to the bottom of the third.
In the fourth, Pittsfield added seven more after Michael Grady and Michael Britten came off the bench to set the table with a leadoff walk and a single, respectively.
Rindfuss singled to score Grady, and Bernardo clubbed grand slam No. 2. Owen Kroboth and Bo Bramer followed with solo shots to give Pittsfield three homers in a row and a 20-0 lead.
That was way more than Pittsfield’s pitching and defense needed.
Stannard allowed two hits and struck out three in three innings of work to get the win, and Mele came on to pitch a scoreless fourth to close things out.
“Every game, even if we’re winning by a lot, we have to approach the game like it’s 0-0, because sometimes we want to get out of the game in four [innings],” Stannard said.
