Pittsfield Babe Ruth Teams Begin New England Regional Play
TRUMBULL, Conn. – Connor Paronto went 3-for-4 with a double and four RBIs, and Morrie Fried homered Friday to lead the Pittsfield Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Stars to a 14-0, five-inning win over Keene, N.H., in the New England Regional tournament.
Fried’s two-run homer came in a four-run first-inning for Pittsfield, which put the game away with a five-run fifth inning.
Jackson Almeida and Eddie Ferris each doubled in a 14-hit Pittsfield attack.
Almeida and Andrew Hammill each went 3-for-4 at the plate. Hammill drove in three runs.
Paronto and Cam Hillard split time on the mound, combining to strike out eight.
Pittsfield takes a 1-0 record in pool play into Saturday afternoon’s game against North Providence-Smithfield, R.I.
15-Year-Old Tournament
KEENE, N.H. – The Pittsfield Babe Ruth 15-year-old All-Stars started New England Regional play on Friday with a 9-8 win over New Hampshire champion Rochester.
Pittsfield Saturday takes on Eastern Massachusetts champion Lynn, a 6-5 winner over Five Corners, Vt., on Friday.
14-Year-Old Tournament.
WESTFIELD, Mass. – A couple of costly miscues put the Pittsfield Babe Ruth 14-year-olds in an early hole, and Trumbull, Conn., got its bats going at the right time Friday to pull away for an 8-3 win at Billy Bullens Field.
The designated visitors scored four unearned runs over the first five innings to take a 4-2 lead.
But after scoring four runs on just three hits – all singles – to start the game, Trumbull rumbled to a four-hit, four-run sixth inning.
“They got some timely hits late in the game,” Pittsfield coach Elmar Uy said. “They didn’t hit the ball very hard to start, but the timely hits were the difference here.
“We only had a couple of errors, but those errors were untimely, I guess you could say.”
After giving up a run in the top of the first, Pittsfield rallied with a pair in the bottom of the frame.
Quentin Christopher led off with a double to left-center and moved up on a wild pitch ahead of Ethan O’Donnell’s walk.
After he stole second, Gavin O’Donnell drove in both runs with a single up the middle to make it 2-1.
Gavin O’Donnell was erased on the play attempting to get to third on an overthrow to the plate, but with two out, Pittsfield put two more men on when Simon Mele reached on an error and Jay Codey singled to put runners at the corners.
Trumbull starter Trevor Schuelke closed the door and left both runners on base, beginning a theme that would plague Pittsfield throughout the afternoon.
“We really need to work on hitting the ball better when we have runners on,” Uy said. “Timely hits for them, a couple of sac flies, productive outs – something we just didn’t do today.”
Schuelke and reliever Jason Costello combined to strand eight runners in the win.
Trumbull retook the lead with a pair of unearned runs in the third and tacked on one more in the fifth.
Pittsfield responded in the bottom of the fifth when Jack Abel (2-for-3) hit a one-out single, moved up on an error and a fielder’s choice and scored on Gavin O’Donnell’s second hit of the afternoon to make it 4-3.
But in the top of the sixth, Trumbull used a double from Sean O’Connell and a two-run triple from Colin Natlo to push the margin to five runs.
Costello stranded two runners in scoring position in the bottom of the sixth before working a 1-2-3 seventh, ending the game on a called third strike.
Christopher started and went six innings for Pittsfield. Matt Egan allowed three hits but no runs, benefiting from catcher Connor Devine throwing out a runner at second, in the top of the seventh.
Pittsfield is off until Sunday evening when it faces Lyndon, Vt., to finish pool play.
