Pittsfield Earns Road Win at Westfield in Little League Sectional
WESTFIELD, Mass. – Hector Reyes-Colon broke a scoreless tie with a monster home run in the fourth inning, and the Pittsfield Little League All-Stars went on to a 9-1 win over Westfield in the first game of the Section 1 Championship on Wednesday night.
Myles Morrison-Gould held Westfield scoreless for 4 and a third innings before Carmelo Coco and Thomas Lacatell finished up as Pittsfield advanced in the winners’ bracket and set up a Thursday date with Holden.
Morrison-Gould and Westfield’s Keegan Welch (four strikeouts, four innings pitched) were locked in a pitchers duel until Reyes-Colon stepped into the box with two out in the top of the fourth.
He hammered a 1-0 pitch deep over the center field fence to give Pittsfield a 1-0 lead, and the District 1 Championship never looked back.
“Hector was just trying to get a base hit there, so that was beautiful,” Pittsfield coach Joe Skutnik said.
Skutnik agreed that Reyes-Colon helped break the seal and propel Pittsfield to a five-run rally in the top of the fifth.
“That was the second time through the order, too,” he added. “So the second time through, I think we did a lot better job at the plate.”
Reyes-Colon’s blast came one inning after both teams missed golden opportunities to score the game’s first run.
In the top of the third, Pittsfield got a leadoff double from Sean Rozak followed by a single from Maizen Errichetto, who moved up on the throw to put runners at second and third with nobody out.
The next two Pittsfield batters, though, could not get a bunt down and were retired by Welch without damage. Then Welch got a strikeout to end the threat with the two runners in scoring position.
In the bottom of the third, Westfield used two walks and a single to load the bases with two out, but Morrison-Gould induced a groundball to Reyes-Colon at short to end the inning.
Earlier in the third, Pittsfield turned in its two best defensive plays of the game: Colton Smith threw out a runner attempting to steal second, and Reyes-Colon made a diving catch on a fly ball.
Reyes-Colon put an even bigger stamp on the game an inning later, and the rest of Pittsfield’s offense woke up in the fifth.
An error and a pair of free passes loaded the bases for Rozak, who hit a sacrifice fly to left. Then, with runners on second and third and one out, Erichetto dropped down a bunt and reached first to load the bases again.
Will Knauth’s base hit to left drove in Lacatell and Coco, making it 4-0, and a a two-run double from Brody Hamilton later in the inning pushed Pittsfield’s lead to 6-0.
Morrison-Gould pitched into the fifth, getting a catch by Chase Albano on a line drive to right to start the inning, before being pulled to preserve his arm with the 65-pitch threshold looming.
“Myles was itching to get out there,” Skutnik said. “Coach Tanner [Hanford], our pitching coach, said, ‘Myles, it’s yours.’ And he threw great.”
Coco sat down two of the first three batters he faced to keep Westfield off the board going to the sixth.
In the top of the sixth, Pittsfield tacked on three more runs in a rally fueled by doubles from Reyes-Colon (2-for-3) and Shaun Boehm. Lacatell also added an RBI single before Westfield got the third out with Pittsfield up, 9-0.
The Section 2 champs got an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth thanks to Pittsfield’s only error of the game. Henry Cigal, who had reached on a fielders choice, came home on an infield bobble to get his team within eight.
Pittsfield, which is trying to win Section 1 and advance to the four-team state tournament for the first time in a couple of years, heads to 2025 sectional champ Holden for a 5:30 p.m. game on Thursday.
“They’re tough,” Skutnik said. “They play good defense. They hit the ball. But I think it’s going to be a good game. I think we’re evenly stacked against them.”
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