Pittsfield Babe Ruth 13s Take Game One from Westfield
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Pitching depth was key for the Pittsfield Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Stars in Wednesday’s Western Massachusetts tournament opener.
Four different hurlers combined to hold Westfield to four hits in a 5-3 win at Deming Park.
Jason Fields earned the win after allowing one run in 2 and a third innings of work on the hill.
Pittsfield skipper Bryan Maloy said he had to change gears when it became clear his starting pitcher was not going to be able to go deep into the game.
“I was going to go with [Sebastian Herrera] for the full 95 [pitches],” Maloy said. “He got a little arm soreness. So we ended up going by committee, and everyone did their job.”
Herrera threw just 33 pitches before leaving with nobody out in the top of the third.
Robby Bazinet, Fields and Gavin Maffuccio combined to eat up the rest of the outs.
Bazinet, who moved from shortstop to the mound in the third, inherited bases loaded and nobody out.
He got a stellar play on a foul pop from catcher Sam Gyurjan and a strikeout and appeared ready to get out of the jam with no damage when Westfield’s No. 2 hitter popped up to the infield.
But an error on the play allowed two runners to score and give the visitors a 2-0 lead.
Balancing out the miscue was the inning’s second web gem when center fielder Mario Zerbato ranged well to his right and made a diving catch for the third out.
It stayed a 2-0 lead for Westfield until the bottom of the fourth, when the top of Pittsfield’s lineup got a second crack at the visitors’ starting pitcher.
Maffuccio led off with a single up the middle, the first of four straight hits for Pittsfield.
Herrera singled to left, and Gyurjan singled to center to load the bases for Bazinet, who drove in a pair of runs with a single to left field and took second on the throw home.
Gyurjan and Bazinet then scored on RBI groundouts from Zerbato and Cameron Reynolds, respectively, to give Pittsfield a 4-2 lead.
Westfield got one of those runs back in the top of the fifth, but Pittsfield stretched its lead back to two runs in the bottom of the frame.
Maffuccio worked a two-out walk and scored on Herrera’s RBI double to left-center to make it 5-3.
And that is where it ended with Fields delivering a 1-2-3 sixth and Maffuccio pitching around a two-out infield single in the seventh.
Pittsfield goes to Westfield on Thursday to continue the best-of-three series at Bullens Field. The rubber match, if necessary, will be on Tuesday back at Deming.
