Holden Ends Pittsfield's Run in 10-Year-Old Sectional
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Preston Miller laced a one-out single into right field to drive in Brady St. Amand from third as the Holden Little League 10-year-old All-Stars Monday walked off an 8-7 win over Pittsfield in the Section 1 Tournament Championship Game.
Pittsfield, which earned a berth in the winner-take-all final game with a walkoff win at Holden on Sunday, battled back from a 6-1 deficit to lead midway through the third only to see Holden scratch out a run in the fifth to tie it and generate the game-winner one inning later.
It was the third time in Pittsfield’s five sectional tournament games that the game was decided in the winning team’s final at-bat.
After seeing his squad play five games in five days, including four on the road, Pittsfield coach Matt Stracuzzi told his players they played with guts and made him proud in the postgame ceremony.
“They showed a lot of heart,” Stracuzzi said moments later. “We played some really good games. The only bad game we had was [Friday] against Dalton. … But we played some tough games on the road against some good teams, and we prevailed because we stuck together.
“And they did the little things.”
And on Monday, when Pittsfield faced a little adversity early in the night, it pushed through.
The troubles started before the first pitch, when third baseman Luca Bassi was dealing with some illness. Then, in the top of the first, Knoxx Daniels, who was penciled in as the starting pitcher, was drilled in the hip by a batted ball attempting to advance from second to third and had to miss his start on the mound. In the bottom of the first, substitute third baseman Jayden Klinger went down after a collision with a Holden baserunner rounding third base.
Each of those players eventually returned to action, but in the meantime, different players stepped up to fill the void.
Still, Pittsfield came out of the first inning with a five-run deficit.
Caleb Tierney hit an RBI single in the first to drive in P.J. Garner to give Pittsfield a 1-0 lead, but Holden starting pitcher Mikey Azzaronnne got out of the inning with a strikeout to leave two runners on base.
Holden then rallied for six runs in the bottom of the frame.
The big blow came from Kyle Ojerholm, who hit a single with the bases loaded. An error in the outfield allowed all three runners to score and Ojerholm to reach third, where he later scored on a sacrifice fly to make it 6-1.
Pittsfield’s Thomas Crawford, who was pressed into service to pitch after Daniels’ took a shot to the hip, got a groundball to end the inning with a runner on third.
“He was not ready to start,” Stracuzzi said of Crawford. “So that kind of threw him off a little bit. He had to hurry up and get ready, which isn’t what you want. Knoxx was all set, ready to go. He warmed up. He was set.”
But the plan was in the rearview mirror, and, with one inning in the books, the Pittsfield All-Stars had a big hill to climb.
Climb it, they did.
Crawford started the top of the second with a leadoff single. Levi Doyle singled, and after Thomas St. John reached with one out, T.J. Davies dropped a single into right to bring Crawford across the plate.
Klinger then hit a sacrifice fly before St. John came home on an error to make it 6-4.
In the third, Bassi’s one-out walk was followed by consecutive base hits from Tierney, Braiden Coon, Crawford and Doyle to give PIttsfield a 7-6 lead.
Meanwhile, Henry Chevalier, who took over the pitching after the first inning, struck out six in his first three innings on the mound to keep Holden at six runs through the fourth inning.
“There’s no way I ever wanted to take Henry out of catching,” Stracuzzi said. “But in a game like this, I had to. He’s the best catcher, by far, as a 10-year-old. But he bailed us out. A couple of the other kids bailed us out, too. But, Henry, what a gutsy performance. I’m so proud of him.”
In the fifth, Chevalier got the first batter on a ground ball to first and would have had out No. 2 but for an error. A pitch to the backstop allowed that runner to reach second, and he moved up to third on a fly ball that gave Holden two outs.
At that point, Stracuzzi turned to Knoxx, who, after taking some time to rest his hip, was ready to bring his team home on the mound.
An infield single allowed the tying run to score, though, and the teams went to the sixth knotted, 7-7.
In the top of the sixth, Coon worked a one-out walk for Pittsfield, and Crawford laid down a sacrifice bunt that got the go-ahead run into scoring position. But Holden reliever Connor Galvin got a fly ball to the edge of the outfield behind second base to leave Coon in place.
St. Amand then started the bottom of the sixth with a double to left field. He was sacrificed over to third, and, after Pittsfield intentionally walked a batter, Miller ended the game with his second RBI of the night.
“It’s a shame, because this team is good enough to go to the states and win it,” Stracuzzi said. “I know that. I believe that. And no one can tell me anything different. This team is good enough, but it doesn’t always happen.
“I’m not telling you we’re better than Holden, but we are as good and we could represent [Section 1] and goto states. But we’ll work on that for another year, I guess.”
