But the game began and ended with Christian Barry. 

 

On the mound, Barry struck out the first three batters he faced and the last two batters to come to the plate for visiting Longmeadow. 

 

At the plate, Barry led off the bottom of the first with an inside-the-park home run to right and ended it with a bomb to left that was good enough for a double but only needed to be good enough to drive home Jack Bellafontaine to give the Americans an 11-1, five-inning win and a trip to next week’s state tournament in Gloucester. 

 

“One of our umps that I coached asked me early in the year why I bat [Barry] first,” Pittsfield manager Ty Perrault said. “Without even hesitating, I said, ‘To get him up as many times as we possibly can.’ He thought about it and said, ‘That makes sense.’ 

 

“When the bottom of the order does the job like they did today, he comes up with guys in scoring position, and it works out really well.”

 

After leading off the first with his 29th home run of the year — house league and all-stars — Barry had runners on base every time he came up, and he cashed in every time, going 4-for-4 with a homer, a double and five RBIs. 

 

On the hill, he struck out 10 and only allowed three hits — all in the top of the fifth, when Longmeadow scored its only run to make it 10-1 and force a fifth inning.

 

“My first inning, i pitched really well, and then I started to lose it a little where I just had to stay calm and work through it,” Barry said. 

 

He struck out the first four Longmeadow batters and had eight Ks through three innings. 

 

In the fourth, Longmeadow’s Alejandro Santiago hit a leadoff double and came home on a Chase Wagner single. But Barry was able to stop the bleeding. 

 

Longmeadow worked a one-out walk to start the top of the fifth. That batter stole second and moved up on a sac bunt to bring up the top of the order. But Barry picked up his fifth and sixth strikeouts against Longmeadow’s Nos. 1 and 2 hitters to get his team back on offense. 

 

Pittsfield’s offense produced three in the first, three in the second and four in the third to put Little League’s “mercy rule” in play. 

 

Cam Blake went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs. Kevin Konefal was 2-for-3 with a double and an RBI. 

 

Bellafontaine walked and scored in the second from the nine hole. He led off the fifth with a double to left ahead of Barry’s game-ending RBI. 

 

Perrault will take Pittsfield back to the state tourney, where it was victorious in 2018 to earn a trip to Bristol and the New England Regional, coming within one win of a trip to Williamsport, Pa., and the Little League World Series. 

 

The manager said he knew this year’s edition of the Americans had the talent to get back to the state’s “final four,” but it had to also have the drive. 

 

“I think they always have the potential,” Perrault said. “It’s just whether they want to do it. Their attitudes in practice, showing up to hit at eight and nine in the morning and then coming back at night, with me, for defense, their attitudes have been great — every one of them. 

 

“When that’s the case, the sky’s the limit.”