Pittsfield Posts Two-Hit Shutout at Babe Ruth Regional
STAMFORD, Conn. – Jack Wendling went 5 and a third innings on the mound, and the Pittsfield Babe Ruth 16-year-old All-Stars posted a combined two-hitter Sunday in beating Connecticut State Champion Bethel, 12-0, at the New England Regional.
Pittsfield ended pool play with a record of 2-1 and moves on to bracket play, which begins on Monday. Pittsfield emerges as the second seed out of its pool and will play in a quarter-final game on Monday at 10 a.m.
Wendling and Matt Keegan combined to strike out three and walk four in the shutout win.
Their offense gave them a cushion right out of the gate with three runs in the top of the first.
Pittsfield collected five doubles in a 12-hit attack.
Noah Maselli went 2-for-4 with a pair of double and three RBIs. Cooper Reed, Jacob Herzberg and Wendling (2-for-4) each had a two-bagger.
Aiden Arseneau went 2-for-2 and scored a pair of runs.
Pittsfield, the Western Massachusetts champion, bounced back after suffering its first loss of the all-star season on Saturday.
13-Year-Olds
Maine 14, Pittsfield 13
WESTFIELD, Mass. – The Pittsfield Babe Ruth 13-year-old All-Stars Sunday morning rallied for five runs in the bottom of the seventh but could not catch the Maine State Champions, who escaped with a 14-13 win to wrap up pool play at the New England Regional Championship.
Mateo Herrera, Jake Merwin and Troy Maloy each drove in runs with a hit in the final rally of a back-and-forth game that saw Pittsfield lead, 3-1, go down, 8-5 and tie it with three in the bottom of the fifth.
But the Mainers scored two in the sixth and four in the seventh to build a six-run lead that Pittsfield could not overcome.
Edaniel Hebert went 3-for-3 at the plate in the loss. Jake Knauth had a pair of doubles, and Herrera (2-for-5) and Maloy (2-for-4) each doubled.
Pittsfield finished play in its four-team pool with a record of 0-3. The other three teams move on to bracket play, which begins on Monday morning.
