Pittsfield Babe Ruth 13s Drop New England Regional Opener
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Cody Meek and Jack Patterson combined to strike out 11 hitters Friday as the Stamford, Conn., Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Stars beat Pittsfield, 5-0, in the New England Regional at Wahconah Park.
Meek picked up nine Ks in six innings of work, and he and Patterson faced the minimum number of hitters in the seven-inning win.
Meet gave up a pair of hits, but he got a double play and helped throw out a runner on the basepaths.
Neither pitcher for the Connecticut state champions allowed a walk.
“Velocity, his curve ball was very good,” Pittsfield coach Cory Hillard said of Meek. “And the second kid, I think, might have been even better than the first kid. He didn’t throw too many curveballs, but when he threw his curveball, it was good.
“But tomorrow’s another day.”
And on Saturday, both teams continue round-robin play in their four-team pool at the eight-team regional.
Connecticut (1-0) will play Rhode Island (0-1) at 1 p.m. Pittsfield (0-1) will meet Eastern Massachusetts Champion Arlington at 7 p.m. in the last of four games to be played on Saturday.
Stamford wasted no time jumping on top in the opener on Friday night.
After Ben Henderson was hit by a pitch to lead off the top of the first, he stole second base, moved up on a groundout and scored when Meek reached on an infield single to give himself all the run support he would need.
Meek ended up scoring on Leo Ovalles’ RBI single to center field, and Luke Baker, who reached on a walk, ended up scoring on a pitch that went to the backstop to make it 3-0.
Meek’s infield single did more than just drive in a run. It also shook up Pittsfield starting pitcher Mateo Fox, who knocked down the hard line drive but shook his glove hand for several minutes after deflecting the shot up the middle.
“He struggled that first inning, and that ball right back to him kind of hurt his wrist, too,” Hillard said. “I think that played into it.”
Fox stayed in the game, moving to third base, but Fernando Vasconcelos took the hill to start the second inning.
Vasconcelos struck out seven and did not allow an earned run in five innings of work.
“He did a great job, Fernando,” Hillard said. “And he always pitches well. Even against [Western Massachusetts Champion] Westfield, he pitched very well. Westfield had a hard time hitting him, believe it or not, but he got the job done. He pitched very well. I’m happy for him.”
In the third inning, Stamford tacked on two runs without the benefit of a hit.
Pittsfield committed three of its five errors in the inning – not counting a dropped third strike that put the leadoff hitter on.
“Errors did us in,” Hillard said. “And not hitting. We’ve got to hit the ball. We have four or five guys that can really get into the ball. And today … their pitching was fantastic. We haven’t seen pitching like that.”
Aidan Christopher started the bottom of the first inning by reaching on catcher’s interference, and Jacob Knauth followed with a single to left to give Pittsfield two runners and no out.
But the hosts caught some bad luck when Cooper Reed’s line drive was speared by Connectcut’s second baseman, who fired to the shortstop to double off Christopher. Knauth then was erased when Meek went to first base and caught Knauth trying to go to second; the throw from first to second was just in time to end the inning.
Pittsfield’s other hit came in the sixth, when Noah Maselli led off with a single to center field. Cooper Brown bunted Maselli into scoring position, but he was thrown out trying to steal third to end the inning.
Reed finished the game on the mound for Pittsfield, allowing a two-out single while striking out a pair in a scoreless seventh inning.
