Pittsfield 12-Year-Olds Win District 1 Championship
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- The Great Barrington All-Stars were able to crack the door open, but Christian Barry was there to shut it tight.
Barry retired three straight to stop a sixth-inning rally and preserve a 6-2 win for the Pittsfield Little League American Division 12-year-olds in Thursday’s Don Gleason District 1 title game.
Barry ended the game with his second strikeout in 1-⅔ innings of relief work to make a winner of Sebastian Herrera and send the Pittsfield Americans into next week’s sectional playoffs on the road to Williamsport, Pa.
Great Barrington registered its only three hits of the game back-to-back-to-back with its back to the wall in the sixth to score a run. And it had runners at the corners with just one out with a four-run deficit.
Barry got the next batter he faced to fly out to left before notching the strikeout to start the celebration for the Americans.
“Christian pitched so well against the [Pittsfield] Nationals that we had no problem going to him whenever we needed to,” Americans coach Ty Perrault said. “But Sebastian, for our only 11-year-old, what a tournament -- what a year he’s had. He’s just had a phenomenal year, all around.”
On Thursday, “Sea Bass” Herrera went 3-for-3 at the plate with a double and a triple and struck out 10 in 4-⅓ innings of work on the mound.
He did not allow a hit, but a pair of walks in the top of the fifth help produce the first Great Barrington run.
“I think with the heat, I think [Herrara] got up in the 70s with his pitches, and I think he started to tire,” Perrault said. “Tanner Hanford is our pitching coach, and he does a great job, so I left it up to Tanner, if he thought he was tiring or something.”
Herrera wore out the Great Barrington lineup in the first four innings, facing just two batters over the minimum. A two-out walk in the third and a batter reaching on a dropped third strike to start the fourth were the blemishes on Herrara’s record going to the fifth.
Meanwhile, Pittsfield’s offense gave him four runs in the first couple of innings.
In the first, Cam Blake hit a one out double and came home on Herrara’s triple to right. Herrera then scored on a ground ball off the bat of Kevin Konefal to make it 2-0.
In the second, Micah Roberts dropped a two-out single into right field before Barry crushed a home run to right-center to double the Americans’ lead.
“What we preach is just to try to put the ball in play,” Perrault said. “Have the lowest strikeouts we possibly can have and just let the opponents make the plays. We don’t have a lot of power hitters. We have a couple. But we’re mostly just singles hitters who try to hit the line drive and the hard ground ball.”
After Great Barrington’s Ian Lanoue worked a leadoff walk and ended up coming home on a wild pitch to make it a 4-1 game in the top of the fifth, Pittsfield extended its lead with a pair in the bottom of the frame.
Herrera hit a double to left, and Konefal drew a walk to get things started. Robby Bazinet then recorded a two-out RBI single to score Herrera and move Konefal to third. Konefal scored on a pitch that got to the backstop to give the Americans a 6-1 cushion.
Down to its last three outs, Great Barrington got consecutive singles from Sean Fenig, Brady Carpenter and Andrew Miller, the last driving in Fenig. With runners at first and second, Barry fielded a ground ball up the middle and chose to throw to second to get the middle man, leaving runners on first and third with one out.
August Luf got the start on the mound for Great Barrington, striking out three in 4-⅔. Brady Carpenter came on to get the last out in the bottom of the fifth.
“You guys played outstanding,” Great Barrington coach Chris Ireland told his team during the post-game ceremony. I’ve had you guys since you were 9-, 10-years-old. Day in and day out, you gave me 110 percent. That’s all I ask for as a coach.
“It showed today. You put up a good fight against a great team. Some days, you lose. Some days, you win. But today, keep your head held high. You made all the days, and you played excellent.”
