Wellesley Stops Pittsfield in State Little League Final
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Only two remained on Sunday afternoon, and one of them wore the red and grey of the Pittsfield American Little League.
The Americans’ remarkable run to the state final came up just shy of the Bristol, Conn., regional. But Sunday’s 9-3 loss to Wellesley could not diminish what the Pittsfield squad accomplished over the last few weeks.
“I think we knew going in that this group was special,” Pittsfield Americans manager Ty Perrault said. “Six of them, when they were 10, won the 10/11 state championship. They’ve played a lot in a tournament atmosphere. We were pretty seasoned.
“We knew we had a good chance at a run, and they didn’t let us down, for sure. They were everything we could have hoped for and more. I know we’re all going to miss the daily practices because I’ve been doing this since the 1997 all-stars, and I had more fun with this group than any other group.
“They worked hard, but they had fun. It was a blast.”
Two blasts off the bats of Wellesley hitters set the tone on Sunday. Mark Henshon and Jack Toomey went yard to give their team a 2-0 lead before Pittsfield could record an out.
In the second, Henshon drilled one to straightaway center field with a runner on base to give Wellesley a 4-0 lead.
Pittsfield had a golden opportunity in the bottom of the second to answer right away, but after loading the bases with one out, Wellesley pitcher Matt Lussier got a strikeout and a grounder to third base to end the threat.
The Americans finally got on the board in the bottom of the fourth.
Bo Bramer started things off by reaching on an infield single, and he moved up when Michael Britten bunted his way aboard. A wild pitch moved both runners up one base.
Shane Bernardo and Michael Grady then laid down back-to-back RBI sacrifice bunts to cut Wellesley’s lead in half, making it 4-2.
But Wellesley responded right away in the fifth, plating five more, including three on a Drew Ranzella homer off the scoreboard in left.
Pittsfield got men on second and third with two out in the bottom of the fifth but could not convert. In the sixth, Patrick Rindfuss led off with a moonshot home run to center, but Lussier retired the next three batters to secure the complete-game win.
“That team was the best team down here in my opinion,” Perrault said of Wellesley, which moves on to the Aug. 7 regional in Connecticut. “They deserve it. They were four deep on the mound and solid all around.”
And even though Perrault’s Americans can take a lot of pride in coming within one win of the state crown, he knows it may take some time for that accomplishment to sink in.
“These guys will bounce back, but right now it’s tough,” he said. “They didn’t want to be two, they didn’t want to be four, they didn’t want to be 100. They wanted to be number one in the state. That’s what they were shooting for.
“They’re disappointed, but they’ll get over it. They’re 12.”
