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Grega Leads GB Millers Back to BABL Title Game

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires.com Sports
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DALTON, Mass. – Will Grega struck out nine and allowed just one hit Saturday in pitching the unbeaten Great Barrington Millers to within one one of their third straight Berkshire Adult Baseball League 20-and-over Division Championship.
 
League batting champion Alex Salazar went 2-for-4 with an RBI, and the Millers scored five times in the top of the seventh to put away a 7-0 win over the Berkshire Thunder in the first game of their best-of-three title series.
 
The teams will meet again at 10 a.m. Sunday at Memorial Field in Great Barrington. If the Thunder pulls out a win, the teams will play again for all the marbles at about 1 p.m.
 
On Saturday, the Millers took the lead with two unearned runs against Berkshire’s Jake Barbarotta as he and Grega locked horns in a pitchers’ duel for six innings.
 
An error in the top of the third allowed Abdiel Cotto to score from third and give the Millers a 1-0 lead.
 
In the fifth, a pair of errors extended the inning to allow Brian Rodriguez to put a single in right field and bring home Chance O'Niel, who had reached on a one-out single.
 
The Thunder ended up with five errors in the game, putting extra strain on Barbarotta, who ended up departing with one out during the Millers’ seventh-inning rally.
 
Before that, he was brilliant, including picking up a strike out with the bases loaded to end the inning in the top of the fourth.
 
But Grega was better, not allowing a base runner until Cam Hilliard worked a leadoff walk in the bottom of the sixth and not giving up a base hit until Joe Bateman’s leadoff single in the seventh.
 
Grega also got a big defensive lift in the fifth, when Barbarotta ripped a line drive that looked sure to spoil the no-hitter, but Cotto made a diving grab to spear the ball and keep hopes alive for a no-no for a couple more innings.
 
The Thunder went to the seventh down 2-0 knowing it would start the bottom of the inning with the top of its lineup.
 
But the Millers squashed all hope with a five-run rally that started when Austin Cancilla led off with an infield single.
 
After the Thunder got an out, Salazar and Brian Rodriguez delivered back-to-back singles, pushing the margin to 4-0. A walk and a single from Colby Rueger brought about Barbarotta’s departure, down, 5-0.
 
Zach Redlund drove in a run with a single, and Cotto finished the rally with a sacrifice fly.
 
Bateman led off the bottom of the seventh with a single down the left-field line and moved up on an errant pickoff throw. But then he was picked off trying to steal third base. With the bases empty, Grega got a ground ball to the left side and a called third strike to end the game.
 
Photos from this game to come.
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Pryor & Peacock's Whimsical Furniture Environmentally Friendly

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
 

The company uses digital printing to create the upholstery fabric, saving water and saving vintage furniture from ending up in landfills.

STOCKBRIDGE, Mass. — A unique furniture store has popped up on Elm Street this month.

Mom-and-daughter store Pryor & Peacock is hosting the pop-up storefront from Aug. 13 to Aug. 25 at 6 Elm. The New Marlborough business is co-founded by Rosalina Wright and Luca Shapiro, who is also the creative director. 

Their online shop was created in 2024 but they wanted people to see the pieces in person, so they're renting the space for a limited time before a long-term tenant moves in.

The store sources prints to create unique fabrics and reimagines vintage and antique furniture acquired at auctions, local shops, and online.

"We source prints from all over the world that date from the late 1600s up through mid-20th century, and Luca turns those prints into fabric by manipulating them, scanning them, oftentimes has to add or subtract things, and then we manufacture the fabric using only digital printing, which is very environmentally friendly, unlike traditional textile printing," Wright said.

Upholstering the furniture can take weeks of work. Shapiro looks for the perfect design for each piece and, if need be, uses Adobe Photoshop to extend the art work to fit or enhance the print.

"One of the most difficult parts comes in marrying the fabric to a piece of furniture because we only use antique and vintage frames also to be earth friendly, and they're also more beautiful and durable than new furniture," Wright said. "So the image has to go with the furniture, so that takes a lot of work."

One of Pryor & Peacock's missions is to be environmentally friendly. Digital printing doesn't use the same amount of water as traditional textile productions do nor does it contaminate water with ink according to their website.

Not only are they saving water, but they are saving furniture from going into the landfill while also using more durable furniture that doesn't break as easily as current pieces. They started their business to create something unique and to help the environment together.

"It's creating something nobody else is doing. People can't continue to buy throwaway furniture. Six percent of American landfills is furniture, and digital printing not only opens up the possibility of being able to put unique images on a piece of furniture, but it also is, as I said, environmentally friendly. So, for us, the excitement is to take an old East Lake settee that somebody's going to store in their barn and forget about, and make it something completely new and surprising," Wright said.

They hope their furniture helps bring a pop of fun to someone's home.

"We think our furniture is very whimsical and surprising, and most furniture today is oatmeal colored couches and gray neutral chairs, and it's boring," she said.

The two named their business after their mothers' maiden names to honor them and believe the name reflects their pieces.

Shapiro works in interior design outside of the business and the two liked working together and thought it would be great to start a business together. Shapiro says they can work well together and that her and her mother, Wright, has flipped houses before and have the same eye for design.

"So it's very easy for us to work together. When we see something, generally we agree on whether it works or doesn't work on a piece. We agree on the color schemes and that sort of thing. So it's very fun and fulfilling to work together," Shapiro said. 

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