Force Wins 16U Division at Dalton CRA Tournament
DALTON, Mass. – The Berkshire Force rallied for three runs in the top of the sixth to break a tie and held off the Saratoga Smash in the bottom of the inning to earn a 12-11 win in the 16-and-under division title game at the Dalton CRA Tournament on Sunday.
Harper Keay went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBIs at the plate and threw five innings in the circle as the young Force rebounded from a loss to the New Yorkers earlier in the weekend and a disappointing showing at last week’s 14U tournament in North Adams.
“Obviously a better weekend than last weekend,” Force coach Brian MacDonald said. “This week, we really turned it around.
“We hit, and we hit, and we hit. We saw some really good pitchers last weekend and we saw, probably, better pitching this weekend. We’re a 14U team playing two 16U teams. When [tournament organizer Dustin Belcher] said, ‘Do you want to play some 16U teams?,’ I said, absolutely. Give us a challenge. That’s what we do. We never play down. We always play up. And these girls did their job.”
It was a strong weekend for the Berkshire Force program all the way around. The 10U squad reached the final of its division before falling to Chatham, N.Y., 23-9. The 12U Force tuned up for this week’s Babe Ruth World Series in Alabama by beating the Greylock Thunder Klein squad in Sunday’s title game.
The Force 14Us had to win two bracket games to get to the final of the five-team tournament against the second-seeded Smash.
On Sunday morning, Berkshire beat the top-seeded Lady Outlaws while Saratoga got past the ACS Swat to reach the final.
And the Smash broke through for three runs in the bottom of the first to take a 3-0 lead.
The Force eliminated that margin with a nine-run rally in the top of the third.
Keay had two hits in the rally, including a two-run double, and Lillian MacDonald and Elin Reinhard each drove in a pair of runs. Kylie Duhamel had an RBI double in the middle of the two-out rally, which left the Force with a 9-3 lead.
Keay, who took over for starting pitcher Ava McMahon after the first inning, a triple and a double and a line drive out in her four plate appearances.
In the circle, she struck out six to earn the win.
“She’s got an incredible bat,” Brian MacDonald said. “She’s very focused on the mound. She pitched the first game [Sunday]. We tried to give her some relief in the first inning, and unfortunately we had to bring her back.
“But to be able to pitch a full game and be able to come back and pitch five innings – very proud of her. And her bat, like I said, just unbelievable.”
After giving up a frustrating two-out rally to fall behind by six runs, Saratoga rallied and chipped away at the deficit.
The Smashers scored four in the bottom of the third, one in the fourth and got a game-tying bloop single from Layla Enous (2-for-3, three RBIs) to tie it in the bottom of the fifth.
With the game’s two-hour time limit looming, it was clear that the sixth inning would be the last if did not end in a tie.
And the Force staked its claim with three runs in the top of the frame to go ahead, 9-9.
Duhamel got things started by reaching on an error, and Amaya Alger followed with a single.
After a strikeout, Jianna Kruger hit a one-out single to drive in Duhamel. Mollie Crawford’s sacrifice fly then brought home Alger. Kruger scored when Reinhard hit a ground ball to the left side to make it 12-9.
But Saratoga answered in the bottom of the inning.
Ariana Rivard singled, and Kiera Ross was hit by a pitch to get the rally started for the Smashers. Rivard eventually came home on a pitch in the dirt, and Ross scored from third on a ground ball out to give Keay two outs.
Saratoga again found new life with an infield single and another hit batter to put the potential tying run on second base. Keay then bore down and recorded her sixth strikeout of the game.
“Their resilience and their effort and their push and their energy, as you saw, there’s no ending to it,” MacDonald said. “They’re just through the roof all the time, and I’m absolutely so proud of them.”
Photos from this game to come.
