Pittsfield 10-Year-Olds Open Little League Tourney with Win
ADAMS, Mass. – The Pittsfield Little League 10-year-old All-Stars Thursday exploded for five runs in the fourth inning to open an 8-0 lead and went on to a 12-0 win over Adams-Cheshire in the Don Gleason District 1 Tournament.
Kooper Colon and Luca Bassi combined on a two-hitter on the mound as Pittsfield dropped the tournament’s hosts into the elimination bracket, where Adams-Cheshire will try to stay alive on Saturday afternoon with a rematch against Dalton-Hinsdale.
Pittsfield got off to a strong start when Will Knauth doubled in a run and scored and Knoxx Daniels singled in a run in a two-run first inning.
And Knauth’s RBI single in the third made it a 3-0 game.
But the real damage came an inning later.
P.J. Garner drew a one-out walk that started a string of eight runners reaching base – five of them scoring – to put the game out of reach.
During that stretch, Pittsfield got three hits, including an RBI double from its No. 9 through 12 hitters: Henry Chevalier, Caleb Tierney and Josiah Rice.
“The bottom of the lineup came through really well,” Pittsfield coach Matt Stracuzzi said. “They put the ball in play, ran the bases well. We got a couple of bunts down. I was really happy about that.”
With last year’s rule change in Little League that sees all players in uniform batting in a continuous lineup, strength 1 through 12 is a big advantage.
“It was a little different this year for me because I didn’t do all-stars last year,” Stracuzzi said. “But I liked that the bottom of the order put the ball in play and put pressure on the defense. That was a good sign for us. We needed that.”
Tierney alone went 3-for-3 with a double, an RBI and two runs scored in the No. 10 hole to lead Pittsfield’s offense.
Adams-Cheshire got hits from Danny Collins in the first inning and Caden Stump in the fourth.
Adams’ pitchers Caleb Gladu, Joey Milesi and Logan O’Neil combined for eight strikeouts in the five-inning game.
But Adams’ offense, which scored 14 runs in Wednesday’s opener, was never able to get going against Colon and Bassi.
“Both of them had a really good game,” Stracuzzi said. “And they ended the regular season with a rough outing, but they came back tonight and showed some guts. They worked hard at it.
“They threw strikes, which was nice. And that’s all you’ve got to do, especially at this age group: Throw some strikes and let your defense do the work.”
Pittsfield (1-0) will play on Sunday at noon against the winner of Saturday’s noon elimination game between Dalton-Hinsdale (0-1) and Adams-Cheshire (1-1).
