Ames employees saw it coming

12:00AM / Thursday, August 15, 2002Print Story | Email Story

Ames employees at the Berkshire Mall store say they saw it coming. Ames Department Stores announced yesterday that it would be closing all 327 stores in the chain. 34 of those stores are in Massachusetts with Ames stores at the Berkshire Mall in Lanesboro plus stores in Lenox and Great Barrington. An estimated 169 employees from all three Berkshire County stores will be out of work. The Connecticut-based retailer said yesterday that they would most likely use a liquidator to conduct "Going Out of Business" sales at all Ames stores. Ames was founded in 1958 by the Gilman Brothers. They built the company over a period of years by opening stores in small towns. They went public sometime in the early 60s and filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in 1989, emerging from bankruptcy in 1990. For details of the Ames shutdown, click here

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Berkshire Reign's 1791 Classic Gets Underway

By Ben McDonoughiBerkshires.com Sports
09:59PM / Friday, August 14, 2026

NORTH ADAMS, Mass. -- The Berkshire Reign White 14-and-under baseball team opened the 1791 Classic with a 13-4, come-from-behind win over Rip City in a game shortened to five innings by the tournament's time limit.

The Reign got a triple and four runs batted in from Fernando Vasconcelos and a triple from Ryder Raifstanger in the win.

After trailing, 4-3, after three innings, the Reign took the lead with a three-run fourth and broke the game open with a seven-run fifth.

Rip City struck first in the bottom of the opening inning. After a leadoff single from Jeremiah Bullett and a walk to Ryder Froio, a wild throw allowed Froio to advance and eventually come around to score. Sebastian Ricchi followed with an infield single, giving Rip City an early advantage.

Berkshire answered in the second. After Raifstanger's triple put a runner in scoring position, a wild pitch brought him home to tie the game. Mikey Ireland later singled and moved a runner to third before Shayne Clairmont grounded out to bring another run home, putting Reign ahead 2-1.

Rip City threatened in the bottom half of the inning, but the Reign escaped the inning without allowing another run.

The game continued to swing back and forth in the third. Berkshire added to its lead after a single by John Naventi and an infield single from Fernando Vasconcelos put runners in scoring position. A walk to Camden Sievers brought another run across, extending the Reign lead to 3-1.

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