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Pittsfield Babe Ruth 13s Come Back, Win State Title in Extra Innings
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires.com Sports
09:30PM / Friday, July 13, 2018
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PITTSFIELD, Mass. -- Pittsfield Babe Ruth 13-year-olds coach Mike Taylor knew just what to expect from starting pitcher Collin Merwin in Friday’s State Championship game against Westfield.
 
Merwin just did not know he was getting the ball.
 
“All our pitchers -- any given day -- they can be lights out,” Taylor said after Merwin threw a complete-game, eight-inning 3-2 win. “I didn’t tell him yesterday. I told him before the game, ‘Hey, here’s the ball.’ He was calm, cool and collected.
 
“He just battled. Nothing got to him, not the errors. He just continued to throw strikes and let the defense make the plays. He was unbelievable.”
 
Merwin struck out 10, finishing the game by striking out the side in the bottom of the eighth to protect a one-run lead Pittsfield got thanks to Merwin’s RBI in the top of the inning.
 
Merwin made the most of an expansive strike zone that was frustrating hitters and benches on both sides.
 
“I like pitching when I can locate the ball when [the strike zone] is wide,” Merwin said. “I struggle when it’s small. But when it’s wide, it’s easy to locate.”
 
Westfield managed just two hits and two unearned runs against Merwin, who did not give up a hit until the bottom of the fourth.
 
The game’s first run came in the bottom of the second, when Merwin hit a man, and he stole second with nobody out. A dropped third strike and an errant throw to first allowed the run to score from second, giving Westfield a 1-0 lead.
 
The designated home team went up 2-0 in the fourth. A leadoff single and a wild pitch put a man on second with two out. An error sent him to third, and Westfield’s Dawson Kelly singled to left drive in the run.
 
Taylor and the Pittsfield coaches helped keep their players in the game after the early miscues put them in a two-run hole.
 
“I’m a big defensive guy,” Taylor said. “Defense wins. I just settled them down and said, ‘Listen, guys. There’s a lot of game left. This is where heart comes into play. We’re not going to just walk through everybody. We’re definitely the better team, here, and we’ve just got to settle down and play baseball.’
 
“They cleaned it up defensively after that bad throw.”
 
Pittsfield did not commit another error the rest of the way, and Merwin allowed just three more baserunners.
 
He got a lift from his defense in the fifth when Westfield had first and second and one out. Third baseman Connor Lavinio fielded a hard grounder, touched the bag and fired to Adam Lazits at first for the double play. In the sixth, left fielder Tyler Gaudette gunned down a Westfeld player trying to turn a single into a double.
 
Offensively, meanwhile, Pittsfield scratched out runs in the fifth and sixth to tie the game.
 
In the fifth, Charlie Heimann ripped a one-out double down the left field line. He stole second and came home when Chase Doyle singled up the middle to make it 2-1.
 
In the sixth, Merwin doubled to lead off the inning and stole third. He came home when Nick Guacchione laid down a sacrifice bunt to tie the game.
 
The game-winning rally started when Doyle worked a walk to lead off the eighth.
 
He stole second and moved up on a groundout off the bat of Lazits. Merwin then hit a ground ball into a drawn-in infield; it was mishandled, allowing him to reach and Doyle to score without a play.
 
Merwin threw just one ball in the bottom of the eighth, getting the last man to wave at a pitch in the dirt. Catcher Doyle threw to Lazits to retire the final out and start the first of what Pittsfield hopes will be several celebrations this summer.
 
The next one, they hope, will be at the end of the month at Bullens Field in Westfield, where the Babe Ruth New England Regional gets underway on Friday, July 20.
 
“Our goal is to get to Arkansas,” Taylor said, referring to the site of next month’s Babe Ruth 13-year-old World Series. “This is just step one in the process. We’ve been going since April, and this has been the goal since then.
 
“We told them, Westfield is a huge rivalry. There’s no way we’re going to let them come here and beat us on our home field. We didn’t want to go to regionals being the [Massachusetts] runner-up. We wanted to be the state champion and go there and win that too, and go forward.”
 
Photos of this game here.
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