Pittsfield Powers Past Westfield in Little League Playoffs
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But there was no escaping Pittsfield after that.
Pittsfield pounded out 20 hits in an 11-1 playoff win that ended in the bottom of the fifth when Brendan Stannard singled to right to drive home Kieran Coscia.
Nolan DeGroff and Stannard each homered, and DeGroff and Luke Mele each doubled to keep Pittsfield in the winners’ bracket of the Section 1 tournament, where on Thursday at 5:30 p.m. it will host the winner of Wednesday’s game between Leominster and Holden.
“We hit pretty much every morning -- two groups from 8 to 10,” Pittsfield manager Ty Perrault said. “Coach [Joe] Skutnik does a good job taking care of the hitting.
“We hit the ball pretty well. We were having a little problem going to right field at one point in the game, but once we got that taken care of and handled the outside pitches, we were in good shape.”
Westfield jumped out to a 1-0 lead with a solo home run to lead off the second inning.
But in the bottom of the frame, Pittsfield answered. Shane Bernardo led off with an infield single, and DeGroff crushed an 0-1 offering over the left field fence to give Pittsfield the lead for good.
The designated home team broke things open with a seven-run third inning.
Again it was an infield single that got things started. This time Owen Kroboth, one of the heroes of Pittsfield’s District 1 title-clinching win, led off by beating out a groundball to the left side.
After Bo Bramer bunted him over and Michael Britten singled, a wild pitch allowed Kroboth to score and moved Britten to third. Shane Bernardo’s groundout scored Britten to make it 4-1.
And then the real fun began.
The next six batters reached base with two out, including DeGroff’s and Mele’s doubles and Stannard’s two-run homer to make it 9-1.
Pittsfield tacked on a 10th run in the fourth, and Coscia singled, moved up on a wild pitch and a groundout and scored easily no Stannard’s hit to end things in the fifth.
Coscia and Stannard also bookended Pittsfield’s efforts on the mound. The former started and went 1-⅔. The latter struck out a pair in the fifth.
As a team, the four Pittsfield pitchers -- including Patrick Rindfuss and Dylan Trova -- struck out six while scattering five hits.
“We’ve pretty much been pitching by committee throughout the tournament,” Perrault said. “We don’t have anyone who is dominant. We have a lot of guys who can throw strikes and who have more than one pitche.
“We have confidence in probably eight or nine guys. It gives us nice flexibility.”
