Pittsfield 10-Year-Olds Cruise to County Final
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Luca Bassi struck out 10, and the Pittsfield Little League 10-and-under All-Stars scored five times in the bottom of the fifth en route to a 9-0 win over Dalton-Hinsdale on Friday night.
The win gives Pittsfield a 2-0 record in the round-robin phase of the three-team tournament and a place in Friday’s District 1 Championship game back at Deming Park.
Dalton-Hinsdale will play Adams-Cheshire on Sunday at 2 p.m. for a berth in the final.
Bassi, who threw three innings to start a five-inning win in Pittsfield’s tournament opener on Wednesday, did not give up the ball on Friday until there was one out in the top of the sixth.
“Man, he was dominant,” Pittsfield coach Matt Stracuzzi said of his starter. “He had it going from the start. And I was only planning on going three innings. But he was so dominant in the game. And after the third inning, it was still a 1-0 game.”
That is because Camden Duda was very effective for Dalton-Hinsdale in his start on the mound.
Duda struck out one, walked one, and pitched around runners in scoring position in the first and second innings.
He also benefited from some good defense, getting a diving catch from right fielder Cooper Kennedy to end the first with a runner on second.
All-in-all, Pittsfield faced a much different game than it did on Wednesday, when it jumped in front with five in the top of the first and never looked back.
“Dalton caught the ball, they played defense,” Stracuzzi said. “And we struggled in the first couple of innings. I don’t think we were selective enough [at the plate]. I think we were swinging at pitches we shouldn’t have been. They weren’t being patient enough, and that’s what I told them from the third on: Let’s be more patient, second time around, see more pitches, be more selective. And, as you can see, it paid off.
“So that was a really nice job on the kids’ part.”
Pittsfield did get all the offense Bassi and reliever P.J. Garner (two-thirds of an inning, one strikeout) would need in the bottom of the third.
Levi Doyle led off by working a walk and moved up on Jayden Klinger’s sacrifice bunt. Grayson Christopher then singled to left to drive in Doyle with the game’s first run.
The home team was more effective at the plate the second time through. Braiden Coon doubled in a run, and Henry Chavalier and Caleb Tierney each had a hit in a three-run fourth inning to make it 4-0.
One inning later, Pittsfield put the game away.
Klinger reached on an infield single and moved up on a passed ball before Christopher hit his second RBI single in as many at-bats to make it 5-0.
After Thomas Crawford’s sacrifice moved Christopher over, Knox Daniels drove him home. Bassi hit an RBI single with two out, and Chevalier singled and T.J. Davies worked a walk to load the bases.
Tierney worked an RBI walk to make it 8-0, and a pitch that got to the backstop brought in another run before Dalton-Hinsdale’s Weston Dietlin was able to secure the final out of the inning.
Duda, Finlay Sorti and Callen Bradley each had a hit for DH, but they came in separate innings, and no Dalton-Hinsdale runner reached second until the top of the sixth.
“Three innings is what we wanted out of [Bassi], but, as the game went on and with how good he was, both coaches, when I asked them, said, ‘No, let’s just keep riding him,’ “ Stracuzzi said. “And that’s what I wanted to do. He deserved that, too.”
Standings: 1. Pittsfield, 2-0; t-2. Dalton-Hinsdale, Adams-Cheshire, 0-1.
