Bird Wins Again for SteepleCats

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NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- Hoosac Valley graduate Tanner Bird pitched two innings of one-hit relief to earn his second win in his last two outings as the North Adams SteepleCats on Tuesday defeated the Valley Blue Sox, 5-2, at Joe Wolfe Field.
 
The 'Cats moved within a game of .500 on the season and moved within a game of fourth-place Valley in the New England Collegiate Baseball League's Northern Division.
 
With seven games left to play, North Adams (17-18) is two games behind Valley for the division's final playoff spot with no more games left against the Blue Sox.
 
On Tuesday night, North Adams took control with a four-run second inning that featured an two-run double by Conrad Ziemendorf and an RBI double by Jim Haley.
 
Bird came into the game to start the fifth inning with a 4-1 lead and held for two innings, striking out one and allowing two base runners.
 
Mount Greylock graduate Robby Buffis pitched a scoreless seventh, surrendering one hit and striking out one.
 
North Adams travels to face Vermont on Wednesday. It comes home next Wednesday to face Keene.
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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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