Great Barrington Little Leaguers Down Dalton in Extra Innings
ADAMS, Mass. – Brayden King scored from third on Ivey Weller’s ground ball to the left side in the bottom of the seventh Thursday to give the Great Barrington Little League All-Stars a dramatic, 4-3 win over Dalton-Hinsdale in the teams’ opening game of the Don Gleason District 1 Tournament.
GB and Dalton combined for six runs in the last inning and a half to cap a game that featured strong pitching and big plays on defense from both teams.
After Dalton-Hinsdale’s Tye Shove led off the game with a triple and scored one batter later on Parker Lussier’s single, no one could get a run across until the bottom of the sixth.
That is when Great Barrington’s Weston Tremont hit a leadoff double – GB’s second hit of the game – and eventually scored on a pitch to the backstop to send the game to extra innings.
“Our 10-year-old who got called up late to be on the team to give us numbers comes up with a huge double for us,” Great Barrington coach Jowe Warren said. “He scores on that passed ball and that was a big momentum shift for us and gave us a lot of energy.
“It got the boys going.”
And the win gets GB a leg up in the standings in the 12-year-old tournament, where they are tied with Pittsfield, a winner over host Adams-Cheshire on Wednesday night.
Until the seventh inning, when each team started its at-bat with a “ghost runner” on second base, the night belonged to the pitchers.
Dalton’s Ryker Williams struck out five in 3 and two-thirds innings before giving the ball to teammate Shove, who struck out six the rest of the way.
For GB, Tyler Warren got the start and struck out five in five innings of work. Ezekiel McLaughlin claimed the win after striking out three in two innings on the mound.
“I thought they did outstanding jobs, considering we lost our starting pitcher two days ago that was supposed to be pitching here and is the reason why we’re down to 11,” Jowe Warren said of his pitchers. “Tyler stepped in and did well, and Zeke in relief the last two innings – throwing strikes and not getting ourselves in trouble and letting the defense make plays.”
While Great Barrington only had one hit through five innings, it did generate base runners. But each time, Dalton-Hinsdale was able to get out of trouble.
In the second, Williams struck out back-to-back hitters with runners on second and third. In the third, Williams started a 1-3-2 double play that ended with catcher Adam Klose making the tag at the plate. In the fourth, Williams got a strikeout on his last hitter with runners at second and third, and Shove came in from shortstop to strike out the next hitter and end the inning.
Great Barrington’s defense, likewise, kept Dalton off the scoreboard after its first-inning run – largely by catching runners on the basepaths. Four DH runners were caught stealing, including in the third, when catcher Satchel Fisher popped up to retrieve a pitch that got to the backstop and raced to the plate to apply the tag on a runner attempting to score from third for the inning’s final out.
All that defense set the stage for Great Barrington’s Tremont to turn the game around in the bottom of the sixth.
Shove limited the damage by getting two strikeouts and a fly ball he caught himself to make sure Dalton-Hinsdale got another crack on offense.
And the designated visitors cashed in on the opportunity.
Joseph Henault started the top of the seventh on second base as DH’s ghost runner.
He immediately came home when Shove (2-for-2, walk) hit his second triple of the game. Shove then scored on a Lussier groundout to give Dalton-Hinsdale a 3-1 lead.
McLaughlin settled down and got the next two hitters. First, Camden King ran down a ball deep in foul territory on the third base side. And then McLaughlin notched his third strikeout of the game to get GB back in the dugout to try to stay alive in its last at-bat for the second time in the game.
“We told the guys, we’re in a good spot,” Jowe Warren said. “We’ve got Tyler [Warren] going out there to second as the ghost runner and Satchel [Fisher], our number three hitter, at the plate. I was like, ‘Boys, I’m confident with those guys coming up there and then the guys coming up behind, would find a way to get on base.
“And a couple of steals here and there, and Ivey hits a hard ground ball down to third to get the run in. That was great.”
Fisher reached on a dropped third strike that sent Warren to third. Then Fisher stole second to put two runners in scoring position. A delayed double steal with Warren and Fisher made it 3-2.
Fisher moved up and scored on a couple of pitches to the backstop to tie the game. King and McLaughlin worked back-to-back walks to get the potential winning run in scoring position. After a pitch got to the backstop, allowing King to get to third, Weller drove him home to end it.
“This was an exciting game,” Jowe Warren said. “That was some baseball being played tonight. Both teams, really, Give them a lot of credit. Great pitching by them. Great defense. They made some killer plays on defense.
“It was a fun game.”
The tournament takes a day off for the holiday on Friday. On Saturday, all four 12-and-under teams will be in action starting at about 2 p.m., after the 10-and-under loser’s bracket game. Pittsfield (1-0) is scheduled to play Great Barrington (1-0) at 2; Adams-Cheshire (0-1) faces Dalton-Hinsdale (0-1) at about 4 p.m.
