Bramer Pitches Pittsfield Little Leaguers to State Final
WESTWOOD, Mass. — It is the year of the knuckleball for New England baseball fans, and Bo Bramer is following suit.
Bramer threw four shutout innings on Saturday to propel the Pittsfield American League All-Stars to a 7-4 win over Fairhaven-Acushnet in the state tournament and send his team to Sunday's state championship game.
And he did it, he said, with his fastball, his slider and that pitch that made Red Sox starter Steven Wright an all-star.
"We've been working on that since the all-stars began — just little by little by little," Pittsfield Americans manager Ty Perrault said. "I've caught that warming him up, and, I'll tell you, the thing moves like a Big League knuckle ball. Some of the looks on [opposing batters'] faces will tell you that."
Bramer went to the mound with his team ahead, 6-4, in the bottom of third and shutdown Fairhaven the rest of the way, scattering three hits and stranding four runners, including men on second and third to end the fifth.
Perrault said that Bramer has earned the coaching staff's confidence to use the knuckler in a variety of situations.
"We started throwing it as our first pitch," Perrault said. "A lot of times, they're not going to swing at it, so it gets you ahead in the count. He's getting ot the point now where he can throw it in almost any count.
"This last inning, when the top of the order comes up, it's his most effective pitch so we figure, let's go with it. All the teams down here can crush fastballs. They crush them. So you have to have something."
And Pittsfield had enough Saturday to pick up its second win of the four-team round robin, assuring it a spot in Sunday's final against the winner of Saturday's second game.
The Americans bounced back from Friday's loss by scoring two in the top of the first on Saturday afternoon at the Westwood Little League Field.
Luke Mele and Brendan Stannard each earned a walk. Mele ended up scoring on a wild pitch before Owen Kroboth delivered a double to right-center to make it 2-0.
Fairhaven rallied for three runs on four hits in the bottom of the inning. Pittsfield came back to tie it, 3-3, in the top of the second.
But Fairhaven went back ahead with one in the bottom of the second — a rally cut short by a couple of big plays by Bramer in center field. First, he made a running stab on a line drive to his left. Then he ended the inning by keeping a Fairhaven player from stretching a single into a double.
Pittsfield took the lead back for good in the top of the third.
Stannard got things started with a double to center, and Kroboth moved him over with a single. Bramer then reached on a bunt to load the bases.
A wild pitch allowed Stannard to score, and an errant throw to the plate on the same play opened the door for Kroboth to alertly come home and make it 5-4. Kaden Codey capped the rally with an RBI single up the middle to give Pittsfield a two-run cushion.
Stannard drove home Josh Lennon with a sacrifice fly in the top of the sixth to give Braman a little more breathing room, but he didn't need it. Instead, he recorded the game's only 1-2-3 inning, for either team, to finish things out.
Kroboth went 3-for-3 with a double and an intentional base on balls to lead Pittsfield's offense. Kieran Coscia bounced back from a rough first inning to pitch a stronger second, leaving the game with three earned runs and the lead.
"[Coscia's] been struggling a little bit," Perrault said. "We threw him yesterday for 20 pitches just to give him a feel for it. He went out there and didn't have his best stuff, but he battled. He gave us two innings, which is what we wanted."
After dominating the sectional tournament that ended last weekend, the Pittsfield Americans this week showed their ability to battle in close games, coming from behind in both of their victories.
"We didn't want to end our season in a bad way," Bramer said. "We just wanted to keep winning and keep having fun."
Tags: little league, youth baseball,
