Westfield Ends Pittsfield NL All-Stars' Tourney Run
WESTFIELD, Mass. -- The Pittsfield National League 12-year-old All-Stars saw their tournament run come to an end on Friday night in an 8-2 loss to Westfield in the state sectional tournament.
Joey Dekarski went the distance on the mound, striking out six and allowing just four hits to send his team to Saturday's Section 1 final against Holden.
"We had a great run," Pittsfield NL coach Bryan Sherman said. "It had to come to an end at some point -- win or lose. They have nothing to hang their heads about. They played hard the whole time.
"[Westfield] just outplayed us tonight."
The same Westfield team and the same Westfield pitcher who Pittsfield defeated 12-0 on Wednesday in the winners bracket came back to get a large measure of revenge in the losers bracket of the double-elimination tournament.
It did not look that way in the top of the first inning on Friday. That is when Anton Lazits drew a one-out walk and Caden Frazier belted a two-run home run over the right field fence to give Pittsfield the early lead.
But from then on, it was all Westfield, and the key was the way Dekarski put that early mistake behind him.
"We made one mistake all day," Westfield manager Mike Raposo said. "We went outside corner on [Frazier], and he hit the fastball over the fence.
"From then on out, Joey pitched an awesome game, probably the best of his Little League career."
Pittsfield did get men in scoring position with fewer than two out in the fourth and the sixth, but Dekarski was able to strand them each time.
In the fourth, Logan Buendia hit a one-out double and moved up on Sam Sherman's single. But Dekarski got the next two batters to swing at strike three to end the threat.
In the sixth, Buendia was hit by a pitch with one out, and pinch runner Kyle MacDonald stole second. But after Sherman drew a walk, Dekarski got a strikeout and a grounder to first to end the game.
Westfield's offense did the bulk of its damage in the first and third innings.
The hosts came out in the first and took a 3-2 lead thanks to a three-run shot over the center field fence by David Tirrell.
In the four-run third inning, the big blow was a two-run double by Brennan Jarvis.
Jarvis later added an RBI single in the bottom of the fifth to account for the game's final run.
