Berkshire Force 14s Win Showdown with Thunder at Dalton Tournament
DALTON, Mass. – Julia McComish went 2-for-3 with a triple at the plate and threw two scoreless innings in the circle on Saturday morning as the Berkshire Force 14-and-under travel softball team beat the Greylock Thunder, 6-2, in the 15th annual CRA Invitational at Pine Grove Park.
But the Force will have to beat the Thunder one more time on Sunday morning to get a crack at the title.
The South Troy Dodgers earned wins over Dalton and the Force on Saturday to capture the top seed in the four-team division.
The New Yorkers will square off against the hosts again on Sunday at Pine Grove Park in the semi-finals.
The Thunder and the Force, meanwhile, will meet in the other semi-final.
Tournament titles in three different age groups are scheduled to be decided on Sunday. The 10U Championship will be decided at 2 p.m. on Field 2. Field 1 (the Wahconah varsity field) will be the site of the 12U and 14U finals at noon and 2:15, respectively.
The Greylock Thunder 12U and Berkshire Force 12U each went 2-0 in pool play heading into Sunday’s bracket phase.
The Force's Kaylana Altman went 2-for-2 with a home run and a triple in a 9-1 win over the Chatham Reds. In a 15-3 win over the Rensselaer Renegades, the Altman, Harper Bialas and Victoria Blanchard each homered; Bialas also tripled, went 3-for-3 and drove in five runs.
For the Thunder 12Us, Abby Dietrich and Joey Nocher each went 2-for-3 with a triple in Saturday's 10-0 win over Rensselaer. Tenley Biros earned the win in the circle, striking out eight and scattering four hits in a four-inning shutout.
In the 10U division, the Berkshire Force went 2-0 in the three-team field to earn a spot in Sunday’s final.
The Thunder 14U squad, who kicked off the tournament with a decisive win over Dalton on Friday night, got off to a good start on Saturday, taking a 2-0 lead in the second inning of their second all-Berkshire battle of the weekend.
Bayleigh Tatro and Kendall Moran each walked and eventually scored from second and third when Ginna Witek grounded out to the right side.
Thunder pitcher Avery Lane, meanwhile, struck out five over the first three innings to hold the Force scoreless.
That scoring drought for the Force ended in the bottom of the fourth.
Ava McMahon led off with an infield single, and McComish tripled to plate McMahon and went home on an error on the play to tie it, 2-2.
Giannah Moses then drew a walk, stole second and third and came home on an overthrow to give her team a 3-2 lead.
A couple more Thunder errors led to Berkshire’s fourth run to start the fourth inning.
But the final two were scored with authority. First, McMahon reached on an infield single. Then Mollie Crawford crushed a two-run home run to left field to make it 6-2.
Ava McMahon and McComish split the pitching duties for the Force, combining to strike out four.
“We’ve definitely come together,” Force coach Bruce MacDonald said. “We found our hitting. We found our pitching and catching groove, and our fielders are doing fantastic.”
While just committing one error against the Thunder, the Force turned in a couple of stellar defensive plays late.
In the top of the fifth, Lexi Spratling went deep into the hole at second base for a ground ball, and first baseman McMahon, who initially dove to her right to try to make a play, recovered and got to the bag in time to catch the relay for the out.
In the top of the sixth, right fielder Amelia made a running catch well into foul territory for the first out of the inning with a runner on first.
“That was a beautiful diving catch,” MacDonald said. “And our catcher is actually playing second base, and she’s making great plays. We’re a little injured right now, so we’re all playing out of positions. But everybody’s really doing their job and coming together, so this is great.”
