DALTON, Mass. – Great Barrington’s 12U All-Stars broke open a tightly contested game with a dominant fourth inning, scoring eight runs to pull away for a mercy-rule victory over Lanesborough in District 1 tournament action.

 

For three innings, both teams leaned on outstanding pitching as runs were difficult to come by.

 

Great Barrington’s Tyler Warren set the tone immediately on the mound, striking out Noah Higgins and Alton Kryskow before inducing a groundout from Allan Salguero to retire the side in order during the opening inning. Lanesborough answered with a strong first inning of its own as Rowan Higgins worked around the top of Great Barrington’s lineup with a groundout and a pair of strikeouts.

 

Warren continued to dominate in the second, striking out Shaurya Patel and Liam Flaherty while escaping a two-out baserunner after William Truskowski reached on a dropped third strike. Axiel Colon was retired on another strikeout to end the frame.

 

Great Barrington broke through first in the bottom of the second. Harlan Kohler reached on an infield single before aggressively stealing both second and third base. After a pop out, Ezekiel McLaughlin followed with an infield RBI single to give Great Barrington a 1-0 lead.

 

The pitchers remained in command through the third inning. Warren struck out Jackson Inman and Ema Salguero around a groundout, while Lanesborough brought Allan Salguero to the mound, where he recorded strikeouts of Julian Winters and Owen Saunders. Weston Tremont reached after being hit by a pitch, but the inning ended on a groundout.

 

Lanesborough grabbed the lead in the top of the fourth. Noah Higgins opened with a single before Great Barrington turned an impressive 4-6-3 double play. After Allan Salguero was hit by a pitch, Shaurya Patel delivered the game’s biggest swing to that point, launching a two-run home run to put Lanesborough ahead 2-1. Warren bounced back by recording another strikeout to end the inning.