Reign Purple Reigns Over 1791 14-and-Under Field
NORTH ADAMS, Mass. – Camden Sievers Sunday went 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles at the plate and struck out eight in four innings on the mound as the Berkshire Reign Purple won the 14-year-old Division Championship Game to conclude the inaugural 1791 Classic at Joe Wolfe Field.
But there were no losers in the final game of the three-day, eight-team event as the Purple beat the Berkshire Reign White, 10-2, in what amounted to a celebration of the travel baseball program’s success – over the weekend, this summer and the last five years.
Reign founder and coach Kristopher Ireland was in the losing dugout in the split squad game on Sunday evening, but, in reality, he couldn’t lose after pulling off what he promised will be the first of many 1791 Classics to come.
“The tournament went great,” Ireland said. “The weather held out. I think we only had one game that got called short for rain, which we probably could have gotten in, but it would have made it a late night [Friday].
“The weather was great over the weekend. The facilities held up wonderfully. We got hit with a thunderstorm in Dalton on Friday night, and our parents stepped up and got the field ready for Saturday’s games. And, once again, kudos to North Adams for hosting us here and Dalton for hosting us there. In Pittsfield, we had fields there, too, if necessary.”
Nothing, including the weather, could stop the Reign Purple in the four-team 14-and-under bracket, where it went 5-0 – three pool games plus Sunday’s semi-final and final – outsourcing opponents by a combined 65-17.
In Sunday’s title game, Kody Lesser was 3-for-3 with an RBI, Spencer Kotski was 3-for-4 with a double and three RBIs, and Kai Laframboise went 2-for-3 with a triple in a 13-hit attack.
The winners of a coin flip for home team in the final, the Purple jumped on top in its first turn at bat, scoring three runs.
Lesser and Sievers started things off with back-to-back singles to make it 1-0. Then, with two out, Alec Houghtaling hit an RBI single, and Laframboise followed with a single to score Houghtaling.
The White put up a fight, scoring two in the top of the third to draw within a run.
Shayne Clairmont worked a walk in the leadoff spot and stole second before coming home on John Naventi’s RBI single. Naventi then stole second and stole third, coming home on an overthrow to make it 3-2.
The Purple got both those runs back in the bottom of the inning, when Kotski doubled and Laframboise tripled.
Kotski hit a two-run single in the Purple’s two-run fourth to push its lead to 7-2 and get within striking distance of the tournament’s eight-run “mercy” threshold.
In the fifth, the Purple was able to put the game out of reach with a two-out rally.
It started when Nick Collelo reached on a two-base error to bring up the top of the lineup.
Lesser singled to right to make it 8-2. He then stole second and scored on Sievers’ double. Sievers then came home on another miscue in the field to give the Purple a 10-2 lead and the win.
After celebrating the weekend with his players and as the Reign’s families continued to pose for photos around home plate, Ireland indicated that about the only thing he might have changed about the tournament was its place on the calendar.
“I think it’s a tough time frame,” he said. “I think summer [youth] baseball ends, probably, the beginning of August, so a lot of vacations come at this time. I think, in the future, we’ll probably look at maybe trying the end of July or being the first fall tournament here.
“I think the timing was a little tough, but we made it work. We had eight teams come out and play a lot of baseball, a lot of quality baseball, and I think everyone had a blast. Kudos to the volunteers that get this stuff together and the community for hosting us.”
Photos from this game to come.
