More than 600 Participate in Steel Rail Races

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PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Matthew Ferraro was the first runner across the finish line at the MountainOne Steel Rail Marathon.
 
Ferraro clocked a time of 2 hours, 41 minutes flat on the Ashuwilticook Rail Trail course.
 
He finished a little more than five minutes ahead of runner-up Nick Reid (2:46:15).
 
Simone Veale won the race's women's division in a time of 3:18:42. She beat out Jill Hussain, who covered the course in 3:27:23.
 
The fastest marathoner on Sunday was Stephen Gulley, a hand cyclist, who clocked a time of 2:15:03.
 
The 26.2-mile circuit was covered by 150 finishers ranging in age from 18 (William Hanley in 14th place) to 72 (Ric Nudell, who finished in 6:04:47).
 
The day also featured a half-marathon and an 8-kilometer race.
 
Mark Rabasco won the half-marathon in 1:18:41, edging Vincent Gauthier (1:22:38).
 
Kat Morrissey placed third overall in 1:23:43 and first among women in the half-marathon, which had 213 finishers.
 
Abigail Chaloux was the fastest woman in the 8K, crossing the finish line in 35:52, six seconds ahead of Caroline Kessler; the two women were ninth and 10th, respectively, overall in a field of 171 finishers.
 
Peter Hale had the fastest 8K time, 27:42. Erik Kessler was second in 30:32.
 
More than 600 people registered for Sunday's races, a record for the Berkshire Running Foundation event. Runners from 24 different states signed up to run.
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Smith Single Gives Pittsfield Little Leaguers Walkoff Win

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
HOLDEN, Mass. – Colton Smith singled on a hard comebacker to the mound in the bottom of the seventh Thursday to give the Pittsfield Little League 12-year-old All-Stars a 3-2 win over Holden in the Section 1 Tournament.
 
The win propels Pittsfield to the final round of the four-team double-elimination tournament. It will be home on Saturday at 1 p.m. at Deming Park against the winner of Friday’s game between Holden and Westfield, a 16-0 winner over Quabbin on Thursday night in the losers’ bracket.
 
Pittsfield Thursday got seven strong innings on the mound from Carmelo Coco and Hector Reyes-Colon, who also hammered a solo home run in the top of the fourth to give his team a 2-1 lead at the time.
 
But Holden, which was down to its last strike in the top of the sixth, got an RBI single from Lukas Ojerholm to stay alive.
 
After Holden reliever Declan Wardwell stranded a runner at first in the bottom of the sixth, the teams went to extra innings, where Little League employs the “ghost runner,” starting each half inning with a runner on second base.
 
Smith came up huge behind the plate for Pittsfield in the top of the seventh, throwing out the ghost runner attempting to steal third for the first out of the inning.
 
Reyes-Colon then got a groundball to the mound for out No. 2 and a slow roller up the first base line to Brody Hamilton, who tagged out the batter to get Pittsfield back in the dugout.
 
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