Leah Melle and Kaelyn Fields led their respective Little League baseball teams to championship games in the Don Gleason District 1 Tournaments on Thursday night.

 

Melle hit an inside-the-park home run to lead off the bottom of the sixth and give Dalton-Hinsdale’s 10-year-old All-Stars a 7-6 win over Great Barrington.

 

Fields went 3-for-3 with three RBIs and threw 3-? perfect innings to lead the Pittsfield National Division 11-year-olds to a 13-1 win over Great Barrington.

 

Those wins put the Dalton 10s and Pittsfield National 11s into Saturday’s title games – both against squads from the Pittsfield American Division.

 

The Pittsfield Americans played just one game on Thursday night, and it was a win for its 12-year-old squad, which defeated Great Barrington, 8-1, to improve to 2-0 in that age group’s five-team round robin.

 

10-Year-Old Tournament

DALTON, Mass. – In addition to her walkoff home run, Melle contributed a triple and a double for Dalton-Hinsdale, which completed a game that was interrupted by rain on the tournament’s opening day last Saturday.

 

Cam Sievers went 2-for-3 with a double, and Calvin Wilds was 2-for-2 at the plate. Nathan Dearborn, Ryker Williams and Tony Jacinto each had a hit in the Dalton-Hinsdale attack.

 

On the mound, Thomas Kuzdeba and Nathon Dearborn combined to strike out 10 on Thursday after Sievers struck out the side in the first inning on Saturday.

 

Great Barrington rallied to tie the game in the top of the sixth when T.J. Brown raced home from third on a pitch to the backstop to make it 6-6.

 

Tyler Warren had a base hit for Great Barrington, which finished the week 0-3. Pittsfield National placed third in the four-team field with a record of 1-2.

 

The Pittsfield Americans head to Saturday’s title game with a 3-0 record.

 

11-Year-Old Tournament

ADAMS, Mass. – The Pittsfield Nationals 11-year-olds won with their backs to the wall to earn a rematch against their crosstown rivals in the championship of the three-team, double-elimination tournament.

 

Fields was dominant in the win-or-go-home elimination game, striking out eight and not allowing a base runner before she was lifted with one out in the fourth to preserve her arm for Saturday’s championship.

 

“She’s something,” Pittsfield Nats coach Jack Chevalier said. “She’s a player. Every team wishes they had one like her. She does it all, she really does.

 

“She’s just a great kid and a great athlete, and she brings it. As you could see today, she has confidence, and she should.”

 

Fields drove in the game’s first run with an RBI single in the bottom of the first.

 

The Nats scored twice in the first and two more in the second before opening the game up with a nine-run third.

 

Fields had a triple and a double during the third-inning rally, which also saw Kody Lesser, Tyler Lacass and Kairos LaFramboise hit safely.

 

In the top of the fourth, LaFramboise struck out the first hitter he faced, but Great Barrington’s Henry Palazzo spoiled the bid for a combined no-hitter with a two-out single to left.

 

He took second on an error and scored on an RBI single to right from Noah Inthirath.

 

LaFramboise then picked up his second strikeout to end the threat and end the game via the mercy rule.

 

Magnus Libetti and Luke Fenig handled the pitching for Great Barrington.

 

Chevalier said that, like Fields, the rest of the Nats have confidence going into Saturday’s championship round.

 

“We didn’t play our best ball the other night against the Americans,” he said. “We know it. And we’re prepared to go and give them a fight, and we think we can hang with them. So we’ll see what happens Saturday.”

 

If the Nats win on Saturday, they will force a winner-take-all finale on Sunday.

 

12-Year-Old Tournament

ADAMS, Mass. – Sebastian Herrera continued to impress in the Williamsport bracket.

 

He hit his third home run in two tournament wins and went 2-for-2 with a double and a pair of walks.

 

In the first inning, he drew one of three straight walks – along with Ben Sykes and Brendan Merwin – to open the game for the Americans. All three went on to score, on RBIs from Aiden Arseneau, Eli Kristenson and Mason Daley, to put their team up, 3-0.

 

Herrera hit a two-out solo homer in the second to extend the lead.

 

But Great Barrington fought back in the third, getting a Kasen Raifstanger double and an RBI single from Oliver Donovan to cut the deficit to three.

 

Pittsfield American scored two in the fourth on one hit – a leadoff single from Sykes.

 

In the fifth, Herrera doubled and Merwin had an RBI single to push the margin to seven.

 

Herrera got the start on the mound, striking out seven in 2-? innings. Merwin and Mario Zerbato finished up. Zerbato struck out five in 1-?.

 

Pittsfield American is off until Sunday when it takes on the Pittsfield Nationals. Great Barrington (0-1) is back in action Friday at 5:30 p.m. against the Nats. Dalton-Hinsdale faces host Adams-Cheshire in Friday’s nightcap.

 

Photos from 11-year-old here.

 

Photos from 12-year-old here.