Comeback Falls Short for Pittsfield 14s in World Series Opener
WESTFIELD, Mass. -- Pittsfield opened the 14-year-old Babe Ruth World Series on Thursday with a loss … or a split, depending on how you look at it.
Pittsfield lost the first three innings against Eastern Massachusetts champion Arlington by a score of 5-0. Then, after a rain delay of 1 hour, 39 minutes, Pittsfield won the next three innings, 3-1.
Unfortunately for Pittsfield, there is only one way to look at things in the national championship’s pool play standings. And the 6-3 loss to Arlington means that Pittsfield will have its work cut out starting with Friday evening’s game against Middle Atlantic champion Atlantic Shores, N.J.
“I expect them to play better tomorrow, I really do,” Pittsfield coach Steve White said. “I like our chances. [Christian] Womble’s pitching. I like our chances.”
Jett Steinman was the hard-luck loser on Thursday. Two errors paved the way for Arlington to jump out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
After Steinman got the first two batters to ground to third, a two-out infield error was followed by a double, a single, a walk, a double and another infield error. Three unearned runs later, Pittsfield was in a deep hole.
Arlington padded its lead with single runs in the second and third.
It was 5-0 with two on and one out in the third when a downpour forced the umpires to pull the teams off the field.
More than an hour and a half later, the game resumed, and reliever Danny DiMassimo short-circuited the rally with two straight groundouts.
Arlington (1-0) touched DiMassimo for one run in the fourth, but he closed the door from there, retiring seven of the next eight men he faced.
Meanwhile, Pittsfield got its offense going in the top of the fifth.
Arlington reliever Thomas Kitzmiller did not do himself any favors, starting that inning by hitting the first three batters he faced.
All three went on to score -- two on Womble’s RBI single to left and one on Nick Taylor’s sacrifice bunt to make it 6-3.
Pittsfield threatened to draw even closer in the sixth, putting runners on second and third with one out. But Arlington’s drawn-in infield gunned down a runner attempting to score on a ground ball for the second out, and Kitzmiller picked up his second strikeout of the inning to leave runners at the corners.
Tyler Callahan went from center field to the pitcher’s mound to deliver a 1-2-3 seventh for Arlington, and that was the ballgame.
White said nerves could have factored into Pittsfield’s performance at Westfield State University’s Hagan Field on Thursday.
“I honestly think, and I was talking to [my assistant coaches] about this, there was a little bit of being awe-struck at the beginning of the game,” White said. “I didn’t see that at the banquet [Wednesday] night, or I would have addressed it. But I did see it here today.
“They’re 14 years old, and this is the biggest tournament of their young lives. I understand as their coach. It’s hard not to be awe-struck.”
Pittsfield, the Western Massachusetts champion, is scheduled to face Atlantic Shores, N.J., at 7:30 p.m. Friday at Bullens Field. It plays the Pacific Southwest champs from Tri-Valley, Calif., on Saturday morning, the Southeast champs from Sarasota, Fla., on Sunday evening and the New England champs from Portland, Maine, on Monday afternoon -- all at Bullens.
