Scalise' Two-Out Double Completes Pittsfield AL Comeback in State Title Game
MILLBURY, Mass. -- Pittsfield’s Anthony Scalise took his marching orders from the competition in Sunday’s Massachusetts 12-Year-Old Little League Championship Game.
With two out and men on first and second and Danvers clinging to a 3-2 lead in the bottom of the sixth, the Eastern Mass squad chose to issue a free pass to Evan Blake to load the bases.
It was hard to argue with the move, considering that Blake had five home runs in the four-game tournament, including one to score the Pittsfield American League’s first two runs on Sunday.
Hard to argue, but, if you were Scalise, a little hard to swallow.
“Yeah,” Scalise said when asked if the move put a little chip on his shoulder. “It made me feel like they wanted me to be the be the one to do it. They want me to finish the game.”
And finish it he did … just not the way Danvers planned.
Scalise pounded a line drive double to right field, sending Nick Brindle and Ben Jacob home and sending the Americans to next weekend’s regional championship in Bristol, Conn.
Although Pittsfield AL coach Joe Skutnik said would have done the same thing if he was in the other dugout and put Blake on first, he was confident he had the right man in the cleanup hole protecting Blake’s thunderous bat.
“In a parents’ meeting that we had at the beginning of the year, I told all the parents: My hardest job is going to be the person to hit behind Evan Blake,” Skutnik said. “And Antonio has done a great job all year long. He’s come up with some big, big hits.
“But that was the hardest thing: Who’s going to hit behind Evan?”
There was never a tougher time to fill that role than the moment where Scalise found himself Sunday.
“It was definitely nerve-wracking because it’s two outs, bottom of the sixth, bases loaded,” he said. “It was a hit or miss situation. It was scary.”
It was a scary afternoon all the way around for Pittsfield, which cruised through the four-team state tournament’s round-robin with a 3-0 record but found itself down 3-0 midway through the fourth inning.
Danvers took advantage of a pair of Pittsfield errors on the same play to score a run in the second and picked up two more -- one unearned -- in the fourth.
Blake was on the hook to be a hard-luck loser on the mound, throwing 5-⅔ innings, striking out nine and scattering three hits before he had to leave the game due to his pitch count.
Pittsfield’s offense, meanwhile, stranded six runners on base in the first four innings -- twice leaving men at second and third.
Finally, the Americans got the big hit they were looking for in the bottom of the fifth.
Ben Jacob reached on a one-out infield single to bring up Blake, who crushed a ball over the left field fence to get Pittsfield within a run, 3-2.
“We just needed a good solid hit, and Evan brought it,” Scalise said. “It really got us going, 100 percent.”
Blake and Scalise then closed the door after a leadoff walk in the top of the sixth to keep it a one-run game. Blake got the last two men he faced on strikeouts -- one swinging, one looking -- and Scalise benefited from a big play by center fielder Owen Salvatore on a line drive into the right-center gap.
That set the stage for the winning rally in the bottom of the inning.
Roshan Warriar led off with a single to right, but a popped up bunt and a fielder’s choice groundout left Pittsfield with a man on first and two out.
Jacob singled up the middle to make it first-and-second, and Blake drew the intentional base on balls to load the bases and set the stage for Scalise’ heroics.
For the Americans, it was the first time in the all-star season that Skutnik’s team has had to play from behind in an elimination game, and even as the hour got late and Pittsfield got down to its last six outs, he did not sense panic in the youngsters.
“You know what? They were positive in the dugout,” he said. “I give them credit. They could have hung their heads. I think the home run by Evan was big, but they weren’t hanging their heads them.
“Evan kind of ignited them. We went out and played a good top of the sixth.
“The huge key today was Coach [Ty] Perrault winning the coin toss.”
