Combined No-HItter Lifts Pittsfield Babe Ruth Team to Regional Tourney
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| Pittsfield's Kevin Smith struck out 11 in six innings of a combined no-hitter with Cooper Reed on Sunday. |
PITTSFIELD, Mass. – Kevin Smith was dominant, and the Pittsfield Babe Ruth 16-year-old All-Stars offense gave him just enough support to secure a 2-1 win over Westfield in the Western Massachusetts Championship Game on Sunday afternoon.
Smith struck out 11 in six innings before Cooper Reed delivered a scoreless seventh as the pair combined on a no-hitter and Pittsfield claimed a berth in next weekend’s New England Regional Championship in Stamford, Conn.
“I felt pretty good,” Smith said after his second outing of the three-team tournament. “I was mainly throwing fastballs until they started hitting it, and then I went with the off-speed.”
Smith threw two innings in Pittsfield’s five-inning win over Southern Berkshire in the tournament opener.
Sunday afternoon, when the game was in the balance on every pitch, was more his speed.
“I love it,” he said of the one-run game. “I like feeling the pressure on me and I’m getting the job done. It feels good afterwards.”
Smith struck out eight of the first 10 batters he faced, pitching around walks in the first and second innings and facing just two over the minimum through three.
Pittsfield, which earned the right to host the title game with a Friday win in Westfield, broke the seal on a scoreless game in the bottom of the third.
Noah Masselli started the inning by reaching on an error and moved up on Noah Malone’s groundout to the right side. Cam Ziter then laced a single into center field to drive in Maselli and make it 1-0.
The visitors got that run back without a basehit in the top of the fourth.
Westfield pitcher Joshua Elmer (seven strikeouts, one earned run) reached on a one-out walk and stole second base. He went to third on a fly ball to right field and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game, 1-1.
Smith then ended the inning on a strikeout and sat down Westfield in order in the fifth.
Pittsfield took the lead for good in the bottom of the frame.
Kydd Kearns got things started when he was hit by a pitch. He then stole second base and, with two out, Malone delivered an RBI single for just the third hit of the game by either team to drive in Kearns and give Pittsfield the lead for good at 2-1.
Pittsfield outscored Southern Berkshire by a combined 24-3 in two pool play games but found a different way to win in the tourney finale.
“We’ve been smashing the ball,” PIttsfield coach Phil Bock said. “We’ve been winning big. This time we went out and we won a nail-biter. The pitching performance was absolutely spot on. We threw a no-hitter, and it made me very happy.”
Bock was not thrilled about having to pull Smith after the leadoff batter reached on an error to start the seventh for Westfield. But it was nice to be able to turn to Reed to pick up the save.
“Unfortunately, [Smith] was out of pitches at 95,” Bock said. “That was a heart-breaker. A complete-game no-hitter would have been spectacular for him. But, hey, they get along so well. It doesn’t matter to them or me as long as we get the win.”
Both Smith and Reed benefited from big defensive plays in the late innings.
In the sixth, Westfield’s leadoff hitter drew a walk and went to second on a pitch in the dirt. With one out, Westfield’s No. 1 hitter grounded out to Aiden Arseneau at short. Arseneau checked on the runner, faked a throw to first to get the runner moving and then threw to second baseman Kearns to get the lead runner in a rundown that led to the inning’s second out with a runner on first.
In the seventh, an error put Westfield’s leadoff batter on, but he was erased when Bryce Hoff threw a bullet to second base to catch the Westfield runner attempting to steal second.
“That was brilliant,” Bock said. “Great throw. And my second baseman, Kydd Kearns, to address the ball the way he did because he knew he was coming in hot — got the ball, got the tag down.
“The juke move [by Arseneau], pulled him off the bag, made a throw, got him in the rundown. You couldn’t have a more satisfying game.”
And you could not have a more satisfying week than the Pittsfield 16U All-Stars, who did what they set out to do – including getting the win they needed on Friday to get one more game at Deming Park on Sunday afternoon.
“I know it is going to be classified as a throwaway win,” Bock said of the second pool play game, played after Pittsfield and Westfield each had clinched berths in Sunday’s final. “We didn’t need to win. But I wasn’t going to handle it that way.
“We went for three [wins] and zero [losses]. That was our model going in right from the beginning of the season. We had 3-0 written up, and that’s where we went.”
