Reed Leads Pittsfield Americans to 11-Year-Old District Title
ADAMS, Mass. – Cooper Reed did it all for the Pittsfield Little League American Division 11-year-old All-Stars on Saturday afternoon.
On the mound, Reed struck out five and allowed just two hits.
At the plate, he doubled in the game’s tying run and scored the game-winner as the Americans defeated the Nationals, 2-1, in the Don Gleason District 1 Championship Game.
In throwing a complete game, Reed got stronger as the game went along. He left just one runner on base after giving up his only run in the top of the second inning.
And he had two strikeouts against the heart of the Nats’ lineup to finish the game in the sixth.
“My God, he’s a workhorse,” Pittsfield American Manager B.J. Jefferson said. “He just went out there, threw strikes and kept us in the ballgame.
“And, you know, we made really good plays behind him. But I can’t say enough about the effort he gave me today.”
Reed is one of many players on Pittsfield who “graduated” from last year’s 10-and-under State Championship team. This week, they head back to sectional play in a quest to repeat.
Their crosstown rivals ensured that the Americans are battle tested.
After beating the Nats by 10 runs in the first game of the three-team, double-elimination tournament, the Americans got all they could handle on Saturday thanks to strong pitching from Weston Wigglesworth and Kaelyn Fields.
Wigglesworth struck out nine in 4 and one-third innings of work before running out of pitches and giving the ball to Fields, who got the last two outs in the bottom of the fifth.
The Nationals’ offense, which could not cash in with two runners in scoring position in the top of the first, came back to take a 1-0 lead in the second.
Kairos LaFramboise drew a leadoff walk and stole second base before moving up on Liam Steiner’s groundout and scoring on a pitch to the backstop to give the Nats the lead.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the third, when Matt Keegan reached on a third strike and came all the way around to score on Reed’s double to right-center to tie the game.
Reed went to third and scored on a pair of pitches to the backstop, and that was all the offense the Americans could muster.
Thanks to Reed’s pitching, it was all they needed.
His defense picked him up with big outs in the third and fifth.
In the third with a runner on second, second baseman Wyatt Lewis fielded a ground ball and threw to Keegan at first who then relayed to third baseman Oren Lewis for a double play.
In the fifth, catcher Mikey Klinger threw out a runner attempting to second to end the inning.
The only inning the Nats did not have a baserunner was the sixth, when Reed wrapped a pair of strikeouts around a ground ball.
Despite the blowout win earlier in the week, Jefferson said he was expecting a challenge from the Nationals this time around.
“I was not surprised,” he said. “I knew coming into this game it was going to be a battle. Unfortunately, in the first inning, we had a player miss home plate on a passed ball and made it an even bigger struggle.
“Instead of being up, 1-0, early, we found ourselves down, 1-0, early. It’s something the kids had to overcome, and we stuck together, kept our heads in the game and played hard.”
