New England Regional, La Festa Exchange to Delight Area Baseball Fans
A busy weekend of youth baseball is on tap for two historic county venues.
The action gets underway at 10 a.m. on Friday morning when Westfield takes on Vermont State Champion Essex Junction in the first game of the 13-year-old Babe Ruth New England Championship at Wahconah Park.
It will be the first of 17 games over five days to determine who will represent New England in the World Series that gets underway in Jamestown, N.Y., on Aug. 14.
Host Pittsfield will play in the final game on Friday, a planned 7 p.m. first pitch against Connecticut State Champion Stamford.
Pittsfield will then play its next two pool play games at 7 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday.
The top three teams in each of two four-team pools advance to bracket play, which gets underway on Monday morning and concludes with the title game on Tuesday afternoon.
No regional championship stakes but plenty of pride will be on the line and plenty of fun will be had on Saturday and Sunday in North Adams, when the 34th annual La Fest Baseball Exchange gets started at Joe Wolfe Field.
Youth teams from North Adams and Boston’s North End have been playing mid-summer classic for more than three decades.
This year’s edition gets going at 6 p.m. on Saturday and continues Sunday morning at 10 a.m.
Win or lose – and the teams have done both in pretty much equal measure over the years – the two teams will meet up again Aug. 9 and 10 for games on the home field of the North End Dodgers.
