PIttsfield 16s Fall in Babe Ruth Regional Final
AUGUSTA, Maine -- The Norwalk, Conn., Babe Ruth 16-year-old All-Stars Tuesday beat Pittsfield, 2-0, in the championship game of the New England Regional.
It marked the second shutout loss to the Connecticut State Champions in three days for Pittsfield. But it was a very different game this time around.
On Sunday, Norwalk beat Pittsfield, 10-0, in six innings to wrap up pool play.
That forced Pittsfield to win two straight games to get a rematch in the finals, and it did so, blanking Lyndon, Vt., on Monday and edging Eastern Mass Champion Lynn on Tuesday morning.
But in the title game, Norwalk pitcher Jaxon Ermo held Pittsfield to four hits and allowed two walks while striking out six in a complete-game shutout win.
For Pittsfield, Connor Paronto and Sam Glockner split time on the mound, striking out three.
But Norwalk generated 10 hits and scored a run in the second and a run in the sixth to give Ermo the offensive support he needed.
In the bottom of the second, Luke Manley worked a two-out walk and moved to second on a Jacob Fields single. Matthew Weiss then drove in Manley with a single to right field.
Paronto, Jackson Almeida, Luke Ferguson and John Mullen each had a hit for Pittsfield in the loss.
In Tuesday's regional semifinal, Paronto went 2-for-4 with a pair of RBIs in the win over Lynn.
Pittsfield jumped on top with two runs in the top of the third and took a 4-0 lead into the bottom of the sixth.
Cam Hillard earned the win on the mound, striking out six in 5 and a third innings. Paronto finished up, striking out a pair and not allowing a hit or a walk in 1 and two thirds on the bump.
Pittsfield,with a team comprised mainly of players who are 15 and under, ends up the all-star season with a Western Mass State Championship and an 8-2 record.
Norwalk, which won the 15-year-old title a year ago at Wahconah Park before the tournament structure changed to make it a 15- and 16-year-old bracket, goes back to the Babe Ruth World Series, scheduled this year to begin on Aug. 8 in Branson, Mo.
