'Great Experience' Ends for Knights at New England Regional
WESTFIELD, Mass. – A two-out rally was too much for the Southern Berkshire Knights to overcome at the 16-year-old Babe Ruth New England Regional Championship on Monday afternoon.
Western Massachusetts Champion Westfield got seven straight hits with two out in the bottom of the sixth to score six runs, take an eight-run lead and go on to a 9-1 win over Southern Berkshire.
Westfield stayed alive to move on to Tuesday’s semi-final round, where it will meet Maine for a berth in the regional final.
Southern Berkshire, which fought its way out of pool play with a clutch win on Sunday, finishes the tournament with a record of 1-3.
The tourney hosts wasted no time getting on the board on Monday, using a single and a double from its first two hitters to set the table for a two-run first inning.
It looked like Southern Berkshire would answer right back.
Andrew Miller led off the top of the first with a single, and Cam Coon followed with a walk. A productive out from Tyler Giardina gave the Knights second and third with one out. But Westfield starter Jacob Maynard got a strikeout and a groundball to the right side to end the threat.
Southern Berkshire’s Cam Simmons sat down the first two hitters he saw to start the second, but then the wheels came off as Westfield No. 9 hitter Audrey Amaral reached on an error, igniting a rally that ended with her team on top, 8-0.
“We got the first two batters out, and then we had a dropped ball in the outfield, which would have ended that inning,” Southern Berkshire coach Chip Paul said. “It would have been 2-zip after two.
“We can’t shoot ourselves in the foot like that and expect to beat teams like Westfield. We’ve got to play better baseball.”
The next seven Westfield hitters singled. One, Jack Madsen, drove in a pair of runs to make it 7-0 before Porter Marchacos drove the ball to right to give his team an eight-run cushion.
That ended Simmons’ afternoon on the mound after he allowed just two earned runs.
The next three Knights pitchers – Erik Miller, Caeden Thayer and Mason Bailey – combined to surrender just one more run.
Southern Berkshire got into the scoring column in the top of the first.
Simmons singled to left to start the inning and stole second before going to third on Andrew Miller’s ground ball to the right side.
Cam Coon drove Simmons in with another ground ball out to make it 8-1.
Westfield immediately got the run back in the bottom of the fourth, but the Knights kept plugging away, getting two on with two out in the fifth and loading the bases with one out in the seventh.
But Jacob Barnes, Westfield’s fourth pitcher of the game, struck out back-to-back hitters to leave the bases loaded and send the Knights home.
Offensively, Barnes helped Westfield’s cause with a 2-for-4 day at the plate that included a double and a pair of RBIs in a 12-hit attack.
“These guys are fastball hitters,” Paul said of Westfield. “And that’s what we’ve got. We’ve got a couple of good fastball pitchers, and we’re able to cross them up a little bit, but they’re patient in the box, and they make it work.”
Overall, though, Paul was happy with his team’s trip to regional, especially Sunday’s win over the Rhode Island State Champs with Southern Berkshire’s back to the wall.
“I’m really proud of our team,” he said. “For some of the younger guys, especially Mason Bailey and Lincoln Fisher coming in and playing fantastic baseball defensively and with the bats, coming up with a couple of big hits that helped us with that win.
“I’m glad we had the opportunity to give them the opportunity. That’s what community baseball is all about – getting these guys all together, the best from the league. It’s been a great experience, and I think they’ve all had a good time.”
