Westfield South catcher Adam Garstka tags out a Pittsfield North runner at home plate on an amazing throw from Tanner Koziol. (Photo by Chris Putz)
PITTSFIELD – And then there was one…
The Westfield Little League Baseball South 11-Year-Old All-Stars bowed out of the sectionals, falling to host Pittsfield North 8-5 Friday night.
Westfield North lost in the 12-Year-Old sectionals a day earlier, leaving the girls’ Senior Softball All-Stars as the lone Little League representative for the Whip City. The Westfield Seniors will take on Peabody in a best-of-3 series for the state title Saturday at Jimmy Pedini Memorial Field in Winchendon at 12:30 and 5:30 p.m. A tiebreaker game would be played Sunday to determine a champion if needed.
In Pittsfield, Westfield’s 11-year-old boys gutted it out on the baseball diamond in a sweat-soaked affair.
Westfield rallied from a 1-0 deficit, tying the game in the top of the second inning when Tony Torres singled, advanced on an error, and scored on a subsequent error.
Pittsfield reclaimed the lead in the bottom half of the inning with a two-out rally aided by a couple of tricky hops on well-hit balls from Jadyn Cross and Josh Bean. Luke Hescock added a sizzling RBI double to make it 3-1.
Westfield cut the deficit to one in the top of the third, but Pittsfield’s hitters continued to batter the Whip City pitching staff en route to taking an 8-2 lead.
Westfield would not go quietly though.
In the top of the fifth, Westfield sliced the lead in half again with key doubles from Tanner Koziol, Colin Scanlon, and Matt Pelletier. Scanlon’s hit drove in a run while an error and fielder’s choice resulted in two additional runs.
Westfield went quietly in the sixth.
“When you get to this level of play (in the sectionals), the competition is top-notch,” Westfield Little League South 11-Year-Old All-Stars manager Mike Raposo said, with a nod to Holden who is considered one of the favorites in both the 11- and 12-year-old sectional tournaments.
“It was just a really fun run for us from beginning to end,” he added. “I hope these kids have a good offseason and try to make All-Stars again next year.”
