Great Barrington 10-Year-Olds Edge Dalton-Hinsdale
Great Barrington takes its 1-0 record across town on Tuesday to face Pittsfield at Deming Park. On Monday, Pittsfield opened the tournament with an 18-3 win over Adams-Cheshire to open round robin play.
Weller hit a one-out single and scored GB's first run in the bottom of the second, drove in a run with a groundout in the third and plated a pair of runs with a single up the middle in a four-run fourth that gave the South County squad an 8-5 lead.
"Ivey was fantastic," Great Barrington coach Chip Paul said. "Good with the bat, good coming in in tough situations as a pitcher, fantastic as a fielder and came across the plate for that eighth run on a passed ball in another tough situation.
"Ivey was effective the whole game everywhere."
Cooper Paul started the game with three strong innings on the mound for Great Barrington, striking out seven and allowing three earned runs before leaving after throwing 72 pitches.
Wheeler gave up a run in the fourth but ended the inning with a groundball to third with the bases loaded. Then GB turned to Zeke McLaughlin with one out and two on in the fifth, and he finished the game, allowing no runs and striking out four.
"That was a pressure situation," Chip Paul said of McLaughlin's night, which included three Ks with runners on base in the top of the sixth. "It's new to these young guys. They're 10 years old. It's totally new to them. And to get the results like that, you really can't ask for much more.
"They almost made it look kind of easy. Just go out there and deliver. That makes us coaches happy that we have pitchers and players that can do that."
Dalton did some damage in the top of the first.
Parker DeMarsh hit a one-out single and scored on Xavier Ramos' two-out triple to left-center for the game's first run. Ramos then came home on a pitch that got to the backstop to make it 2-0.
After a 1-2-3 inning for DeMarsh on the mound in the bottom of the first, DH added to its lead with Tye Shove's RBI single in the second to make it 3-0.
DeMarsh pitched into the fourth inning, striking out six and walking just one. Jacob Henault and Ramos finished on the mound for Dalton-Hinsdale. Ramos struck out three in 1 and two-thirds of scoreless work on the mound.
In the bottom of the second, Weller singled, moved up on a pitch to the backstop and scored on Owen Slater's RBI single to get GB on the board.
Alex Dearborn hit a leadoff single and eventually scored on an error in the top of the third to stretch Dalton-Hinsdale's lead back to three runs.
But Great Barrington scored three times in the bottom of the inning to level the score.
Weston Tremont and Hunter Havens hit back-to-back-singles and Cooper Paul doubled at the top of the lineup to start the rally.
Tremont singled again in his next trip, leading off the bottom of the fourth to ignite a four-run rally after Dalton-Hinsdale scratched out a run in the top of the fourth.
"Weston was fantastic at the plate today," Chip Paul said. "Weston, Cooper Paul came up big with a big hit. Also, Cooper Paul did a great job starting us on the mound, keeping the game tight.
"For a group of young 10-year-olds, coming in here, looking at a team that's pretty good, that probably could have beat us handily, we had a good day. We really did. ... The whole team benefited from every player. Every player had a big part in this win."
DeMarsh (2-for-3) hit an infield single to start a two-run rally for Dalton-Hinsdale in the top of the fifth that made it 8-7.
After Ramos retired Great Barrington 1-2-3 in the bottom of the fifth, Graylan Milano hit an infield single and Murphy Duquette worked a walk to get the go-ahead runner on base for DH in the top of the sixth.
McLaughlin then bore down and got three straight Ks to end the game.
Photos of this game to come.
