Pittsfield Little Leaguers Go Back to State Tourney
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| Myles Morrison-Gould Saturday struck out seven in a complete-game effort on the mound. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Myles Morrison-Gould Saturday finished what he started.
Both in terms of the game and the Massachusetts Little League Section 1 Tournament.
Morrison-Gould struck out seven and walked just one in a complete-game, 3-0 win over Holden that sends the Pittsfield Little League All-Stars into next week’s four-team State Tournament.
Three days earlier, Morrison-Gould delivered 4 and a third scoreless innings in Pittsfield’s Section 1 opener, a 9-1 win at Westfield.
Together with a 3-2 road win at Holden to get to Saturday’s championship round, Pittsfield’s pitchers allowed three runs in three games to get back to the state’s Final Four for the first time in two years.
“We pitched well,” Pittsfield coach Joe Skutnik said. “We pitched very well.
“[Morrison-Gould] was running out of gas at the end there. That’s why I sent [pitching coach Tanner Hanford] out, just to give him another rest, to try and get that last out. And he did it. He pitched great. He pitched unbelievably.”
And he got some offensive support from a familiar place early in the game.
Hector Reyes-Colon reached out and pulled a 1-2 pitch over the left field fence for his third solo home run of the tournament, giving Pittsfield a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first.
It stayed that way until the bottom of the fourth.
That is when Mason Fox reached on a one-out infield single and moved into scoring position on a wild pitch. Reyes-Colon then singled to the left side to drive in Fox and took second on the throw.
“I was wondering what Hector was thinking that time up, but you know what? He just was thinking, ‘Bas hit, line drive,’ and he got it,” Skutnik said.
Two batters later, Shaun Boehm singled to drive in Reyes-Colon and give Pittsfield a little more insurance.
Not that Morrison-Gould and his defense needed it.
As Pittsfield pitchers have throughout the all-star season, Morrison-Gould benefited from some sterling defensive play behind him.
In the top of the first, Maizen Errichetto made a diving catch with one out and a runner on first base.
In the second, right fielder Carmelo Coco gunned down a runner trying to get from first to second on a single.
In the fifth, Will Knauth came in well up the line on a ground ball, grabbed the ball bare handed and fired to Brody Hamilton at first to get the batter by half a step for the third out of the inning.
“If you can put your pitching together with some decent defense, you’re gonna do all right,” Skutnik said.
Holden got a runner into scoring position just twice against Morrison-Gould.
In the fourth, a walk and a Wesley Goodale single put two runners on base with one out. But Morrison-Gould ended the threat with a ground ball to Reyes-Colon at short.
In the sixth, Holden’s Hunter Downie doubled with two out to give his team life, drawing the mound visit from Pittsfield’s Hanford. Morrison-Gould responded by getting his third called third strike of the game to end the contest.
“He had a little more jump on his fastball and his breaking ball,” Skutnik said of Morrison-Gould’s performance on Saturday. “He was using it very well. And I mean this team is a tough hitting them. They put their bat on the ball. To get that many strikeouts (seven) – that’s good pitching.”
And that has been the hallmark of a Pittsfield team that has allowed eight runs in going 8-0 in the District 1 and Section 1 Tournaments.
Now the competition steps up a level when the commonwealth’s four sectional champions get together in Holden starting Thursday night.
Skutnik, though, knew weeks ago that this Pittsfield team belongs in that company.
“I thought that I would have been disappointed if we didn’t make the state Final Four,” he said. “That’s what I thought at the beginning of the year. I thought we had enough talent. I mean, this Ty [Perrault] and my 10th time going down to the Final Four. So we have a general idea of what it takes to get there.
“And I really thought I would have been disappointed if we didn’t get there.”
