GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass. -- Even before they stepped into the batter's box on Wednesday night, the North Adams Little League 12-year-old all-stars faced an uphill battle.

 

With Pittsfield's Christian Marchbanks on the hill, that climb was insurmountable.

 

Marchbanks struck out five in two innings of work and went 2-for-2 with a home run as part of a 16-hit attack as the Pittsfield American League won its opener in the District 1 playoffs, 12-2, at Olympia Meadows.

 

"In the three, four weeks we've been together, he's really dialing it in nice," Pittsfield AL coach Ty Perrault said of Marchbanks. "He's worked hard in practice, worked on his mechanics, a few little things here and there. He's hitting his spots, and he's looking really good.

 

"And Andrew is, too."

 

Andrew Watkins made the most of his one inning of work, striking out the side in order in the bottom of the third. Shane Bernardo came on to pitch the fourth, giving up two runs before retiring the last two to end the game via the mercy rule.

 

Pittsfield showed no mercy in the first two innings, scoring all 12 of their runs in its first two at-bats.

 

The designated visitors pounded the ball in the top of the first.

 

Lou Arace tripled home a run, Mia Potash doubled home one, and Patrick Rindfuss smacked a two-run home run to left-center to give Marchbanks a 6-0 lead before he took the mound.

 

In the second, Pittsfield got doubles from Bo Bramer, Brendan Stannard and Rindfuss and Marchbanks' solo homer to put the game out of reach.

 

"We hit right through the order that first inning, which is nice," Perrault said. "We work hard on hitting. We hit at 8 and 9 o'clock every morning in the cage. Coach [Joe] Skutnik takes care of that. He has his own little program that's worked for years.

 

"You saw the early fruits of that in the first inning."

 

The Pittsfield American League moves on to face host Great Barrington on Friday at 5:30 p.m. North Adams drops into the losers bracket, where it faces the loser of Thursday's game between Dalton/Hinsdale and the Pittsfield National League.

 

Perrault said he has no fear his team will get swelled heads after Wednesday's win.

 

"We know what the competition is," he said. "They've played them all the way up. And we've got the added thing this year that the [Pittsfield] National League is a combination of two leagues. So we have to respect that.

 

"We take every game one game at a time. Tomorrow we'll regroup and think only about Great Barrington and nothing else."