Updated July 07, 2015 08:45AM

Pittsfield 14s to Finish Game Suspended by 'Forfeit'

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
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UPDATE TUESDAY MORNING: PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- The Pittsfield 14s had a short-lived reign as champions of the Babe Ruth District 1 tournament.
 
Late Monday night, coach Eric Stone reported that Westfield was successful in its appeal of a decision that it needed to forfeit its game at Pittsfield.
 
That means the two teams will pick up where they left off on Friday night in Westfield -- with one out in the bottom of the seventh and Westfield holding a 7-5 lead, Stone said.
 
If Westfield holds on, the teams will play a third and deciding game in their best-of-three District playoff immediately after.
 
If Pittsfield comes back and wins the game in the seventh (or ties in the seventh and wins shortly thereafter), the teams will go ahead and play a third game just to provide the playing opportunity, Stone said.
 
The following story was written Monday night when it appeared that the Pittsfield 14s had sewn up the District title via a forfeit:
 
PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- For now anyway, the Pittsfield Babe Ruth 14-year-olds are the District 1 Champions.
 
Pittsfield was trailing, 7-5, in the bottom of the seventh inning on Monday evening when visiting Westfield was forced to forfeit the game and gave Pittsfield a 2-0 advantage in the best-of-three district playoffs.
 
The forfeit occurred when Westfield's second pitcher of the night was ejected with one out after beaning Pittsfield's Ryan Gaudette.
 
The visitors were without an available substitute and could not, by rule, finish the game with eight players on the field.
 
As the sun set on Deming Field, there was a long delay while the umpires sorted things out, consulting with their supervisor by cell phone before finally informing both teams that the game was over.
 
"It's a cheap way to win," Pittsfield coach Eric Stone said. "It happened to me last year when I screwed up the pitching eligibility in the Regionals. But a win's a win.
 
"You want the kids to earn it on the field. But, saying that, it was 7-5, and we had a runner on."
 
And Pittsfield had been battling from behind all night, although never quite was able to erase the 2-0 lead Westfield grabbed in the top of the third.
 
For the record, Westfield plans to continue appealing the forfeit ruling, so nothing is set in stone as far as the District title is concerned.
 
Pittsfield could have to travel to Westfield on Friday to play the completion of Monday's game and an "if necessary" Game 3.
 
The good news for Westfield is that whatever happens, its season will continue. Pittsfield and Westfield are the only two teams in District 1 in the 14-year-old age bracket and therefore will have both the district's berths in the Western Mass State Tournament no matter the result of the District playoffs.
 
That said, both teams certainly played like this one mattered.
 
After Pittsfield's Hayden Harrington worked out of a couple of jams in the first and second, Westfield broke through in the third inning thanks to a few Pittsfield miscues and a Cam Davignon RBI single to give his team a 2-0 lead.
 
In the bottom of the inning, John Halse doubled and scored on Ian Benoit's single to make it 2-1.
 
Westfield stretched its lead to 4-1 in the top of the fourth. Pittsfield responded in the bottom when Joe Woronick walked, stole second, went to third on a ground ball and scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2.
 
Westfield tacked on one in the top of the fifth; Pittsfield answered with two in the bottom of the fifth to make it 5-4. This time another wild pitch allowed one run, and Gaudette's sacrifice bunt plated the other.
 
Westfield made it 6-4 in its half of the sixth. Pittsfield struck back when Zack Barnardo drew a bases loaded walk to get his team within a run.
 
Westfield scored on a bases-loaded hit-by-pitch in the top of the seventh.
 
Pittsfield never got to complete its comeback bid in the bottom of the inning.
 
But the spirit Pittsfield displayed all night was encouraging to Stone.
 
"Our kids are resilient," he said. "The keep fighting, fighting, fighting. We just had too many mistakes tonight, too many walks, too many good pitches on good counts -- 0-2, 1-2 counts. As a pitcher, you can't do that."
 
One of Pittsfield's five pitchers on the night -- Halse -- did have a hand in the defensive highlight of the game.
 
In the fifth, Westfield had second and third with one out when Bailey Collier hit a single to center field.
 
Carter Matthews fielded the ball and hit the cutoff man, Halse, who relayed to Cedric Rose at the plate to nail the trailing runner. Rose then fired down to shortstop Joe Traversa to catch Collier attempting to advance on the throw for an unlikely double play.
 
Offensively, Halse, Benoit and Harrington each went 1-for-2 for Pittsfield.
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North Adams Regional Reopens With Ribbon-Cutting Celebration

By Tammy DanielsiBerkshires Staff

BHS President and CEO Darlene Rodowicz welcomes the gathering to the celebration of the hospital's reopening 10 years to the day it closed. 
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. — The joyful celebration on Thursday at North Adams Regional Hospital was a far cry from the scene 10 years ago when protests and tears marked the facility's closing
 
Hospital officials, local leaders, medical staff, residents and elected officials gathered under a tent on the campus to mark the efforts over the past decade to restore NARH and cut the ribbon officially reopening the 136-year-old medical center. 
 
"This hospital under previous ownership closed its doors. It was a day that was full of tears, anger and fear in the Northern Berkshire community about where and how residents would be able to receive what should be a fundamental right for everyone — access to health care," said Darlene Rodowicz, president and CEO of Berkshire Health Systems. 
 
"Today the historic opportunity to enhance the health and wellness of Northern Berkshire community is here. And we've been waiting for this moment for 10 years. It is the key to keeping in line with our strategic plan which is to increase access and support coordinated county wide system of care." 
 
Berkshire Medical Center in Pittsfield, under the BHS umbrella, purchased the campus and affiliated systems when Northern Berkshire Healthcare declared bankruptcy and closed on March 28, 2014. NBH had been beset by falling admissions, reductions in Medicare and Medicaid payments, and investments that had gone sour leaving it more than $30 million in debt. 
 
BMC was able to reopen the ER as an emergency satellite facility and slowly restored and enhanced medical services including outpatient surgery, imaging, dialysis, pharmacy and physician services. 
 
But it would take a slight tweak in the U.S. Health and Human Services' regulations — thank to U.S. Rep. Richie Neal — to bring back inpatient beds and resurrect North Adams Regional Hospital 
 
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