Winters Freezes Out Pittsfield Nats; Americans Improve to 2-0
Winters struck out eight, walked three and allowed no hits in 4-? innings to lead Great Barrington to a five-inning win that evened its record at 1-1 on the second day of the county championship.
In Sunday’s other game, the Pittsfield Little League American Division All-Stars earned a 17-6 win over Dalton-Hinsdale to improve to 2-0 in the four-team tourney.
Matteo Herrera went 2-for-2 with three RBIs, and Adam Tanner went 2-for-4 with a pair of runs batted in for Pittsfield, which followed up on its Saturday win over Great Barrington and moved into sole possession of first place in the round-robin.
A win for the Americans on Thursday evening against the Pittsfield LL National Division will guarantee Pittsfield American a berth in Saturday’s noon District 1 championship game.
Dalton-Hinsdale (1-1), a walkoff winner over the Nats in Saturday’s tournament opener, will play Great Barrington (1-1) on Wednesday on Myron Gray Field at Clapp Park at 5:45 p.m.
Great Barrington jumped out to a 3-0 lead on Sunday afternoon with three runs on no hits in the top of the first inning.
Satchel Fischer, Chase Bragdon, Cameron Miller and Liam Deris each earned a walk – the last a bases-loaded walk to drive in a run – in the rally.
Great Barrington then tacked on runs in each of the next four innings, putting the game effectively out of reach with a six-run fifth.
Again, walks were the key in that rally. But Great Barrington’s offense did generate six hits in the middle innings, including a triple in a 2-for-3 day for Bragdon and a triple from Brayden King.
Winters, meanwhile, allowed just two runners in scoring position before leaving the game due the pitch count.
In the first, Sean Rozak drew a leadoff walk for the Nats. He then stole second and moved up on a ball to the backstop. But Winters speared a line drive back to the mound in between a pair of strikeouts to strand Rozak.
In the second, Andrew Scalise reached on an error to start the inning and moved up when Colton Smith drew a walk. But Winters struck out the next three in a row.
He got a 1-2-3 third thanks in part to King, who threw out a runner attempting to steal second.
And Winters’ last out came to start the fifth when first baseman Fischer grabbed a line drive to deny a sure base hit.
Pittsfield National then put two runners on and got its first hit of the game, an RBI single from Smith, who ended up scoring all the way from first on an error.
Reliever Cameron Muller closed the door, recording his second out with a swinging third strike to end the game via the run rule.
Dalton-Hinsdale rode the momentum from Saturday’s emotional win by grabbing a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the first on Sunday. A combination of four walks, including Xavier Ramos’ RBI walk, and an RBI groundout from Adam Klose erased a one-run deficit and gave Dalton the lead.
But it did not last. Pittsfield American scored six times in the top of the second to go back on top.
Mason Fox had a sacrifice fly, and Tanner and Shaun Boehm singled in the rally.
Dalton got a run back in the second, but Chase Albano took command on the mound in the middle innings, allowing just two runs in 3-? innings of work. He struck out five and walked two in earning the win in relief.
His offense rewarded him with three runs on three hits in the fourth, when Sean Pedrotti hit an RBI double and Herrera drove in a pair with a single to center.
Pittsfield American tacked on two runs in the fifth and five in the sixth to put the game away.
Dalton-Hinsdale earned its first hits in the fifth, when it got back-to-back RBI singles from Ty Shove and Parker Lussier.
Dalton got the leadoff runner on base to start the sixth, but any hopes of a comeback were erased when Pittsfield American’s Oliver Brown induced three straight groundball outs to Fox at shortstop.
The five-team Don Gleason 12-year-old District 1 Championship gets underway on Monday night. Adams-Cheshire will play Great Barrington at 5:30 at Deming Park in Pittsfield; the Pittsfield Americans and PIttsfield Nationals will play at 5:30 at Dalton’s Chamberlain Park at 5:30.
More photos from these games to come.
