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Rindfuss Pitches Pittsfield Babe Ruth 14s to New England Regional
By Stephen Dravis, iBerkshires.com Sports
07:18PM / Saturday, July 14, 2018
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WESTFIELD, Mass. -- For four innings on Saturday afternoon at Bullens Field, Patrick Rindfuss was perfect.
 
But as a member of the Pittsfield Babe Ruth 14-year-olds, that just meant he was part of the crowd.
 
Rindfuss threw a complete game on-hitter, and Pittsfield pounded out 11 hits and played flawless defense en route to a 13-1 win over Westfield in the State Championship game.
 
Pittsfield will represent Western Massachusetts in the Babe Ruth New England Regional in Norwalk, Conn., starting Friday, July 20.
 
“Patrick told one of his teammates he planned on not letting anyone get on base today, and he just about did that throughout the game,” Pittsfield coach Bryon Sherman said. “One hit and a few walks … He came out to play, and he’s been our horse the whole year. He came out and did it today.”
 
And he went 5-⅓ innings before allowing Westfield to get a hit.
 
The hosts scored their only run in the fifth by virtue of a walk, a couple of wild pitches and a sacrifice fly.
 
In the bottom of the sixth, Carlos Rodriguez lined a single up the middle with one out to break up the no-hit bid. Westfield then earned a walk and moved both men into scoring position with a ground out before Rindfuss got the third out on a swinging strike.
 
“I wasn’t really focused on [the no-hitter],” Rindfuss said. “I was just focused on getting outs and stuff. I wasn’t really worrying about the no-hitter or perfect game.
 
“I knew we had a big lead, so I just had to throw strikes. … I just wanted to let my defense make plays behind me.”
 
That defense also made plays in front of him thanks to the the play of catcher Owen Kroboth. Twice in the third inning alone, Kroboth hopped out to field foul pop-ups, once making a sliding play at the foot of the backstop.
 
“Last night, we had some problems in the field, and that’s what gave up the runs early on,” Sherman said. “Today, we didn’t make any mistakes in the field and actually made great plays in the field.
 
“Owen’s very dependable -- blocks every pitch, strong arm behind the plate. He’s our backstop, no doubt about that.”
 
And Kroboth started the eventual game-winning rally at the plate in the top of the fourth.
 
Pittsfield picked up its first run in the second when Nick Hall reached on a walk, stole second and came home on an error.
 
In the fourth, Kroboth singled up the middle to start a three-hit, three-run rally that also saw Hall double in a run, Mickey Zwinglestein drop an RBI single into left and Stevie Zuccalo hit a sacrifice fly to make it 4-0.
 
Pittsfield tacked on runs in the fifth and sixth to pull ahead, 6-1.
 
But it broke the game open in the bottom of the seventh in a rally fueled by four hits and two more Westfield errors.
 
Kroboth again lit the fire, this time with a single to left. Pittsfield then got hits from Hall (3-for-4 with a double), Mike Grady and Johnathan Monahan (2-for-4 with a triple).
 
Sherman said he was not surprised his Pittsfield squad had what it takes to get to the regional.
 
“We knew we were good,” Sherman said. “There were some doubters out there who said they weren’t focused as they should have been. But I was confident, and our coaching staff was confident they were going to pull through at the end. And they did it on the field at the end of the day.”
 
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