DALTON, Mass. – Brayden Durant struck out nine and allowed three hits Sunday in a complete-game, 5-0, win that sent the Adams-Cheshire Little League 12-year-olds into the title game of the Don Gleason District 1 Tournament.

 

Julius Valentine doubled in a run with one of just two hits for Adams-Cheshire as it finished pool play 3-1 after a win over Dalton-Hinsdale.

 

That makes Adams a lock to face Pittsfield American (3-0) in Thursday’s championship game.

 

“It feels amazing,” Adams-Cheshire manager Steve Albareda said. “I’m relieved. Going into this, I knew we had a shot. But they played well. The boys are really good, and I’m very happy to be there.”

 

Durant, who struck out 14 in a win in Adams’ tournament opener, set the tone on Sunday by striking out the side on 10 pitches in the top of the first on Sunday.

 

Dalton did threaten to get on the board in the low-scoring game a couple of times, but each time, Adams’ ace had the answer.

 

In the top of the second, Jack Furlong hit a leadoff double. But Durant struck out the next hitter and then got two comebackers to the mound to end the inning and leave Furlong on third.

 

In the third, Blake Santora hit a one-out single. Durant answered with a pair of strikeouts, ending the inning with Santora on second.

 

All those outs with runners on base were needed with Dalton starter Camden Sievers holding the Adams offense at bay.

 

Sievers struck out five, walked none and allowed just three hits before coming up against the pitch count with two out in the bottom of the fifth.

 

Zack Mazzeo got Adams’ first hit to lead off the bottom of the second. Cooper Denault followed with a one out walk.

 

A couple of pitches that got to the backstop allowed Mazzeo to score and put Denault on third, and he scored on Owen Manning’s RBI groundout to give their team a 2-0 lead.

 

Adams added an insurance run in the fourth when Durant worked a leadoff walk and came home on Valentine’s double to right.

 

In the fifth, Adams’ offense finally gave Durant some breathing room when it scored two runs without the use of a hit. Carson Ellsworth and Brogan Larabee each drew a walk, and both came home on the same play when Cooper Stentiford reached on a dropped third strike.

 

But while the score was a little safer heading to the top of the sixth, Durant’s pitch count was not.

 

He needed just 54 pitches to get through the first five innings. If he started a batter after his 65th pitch, it would mean a mandatory four days of rest before his next outing, and with a potential title game against defending champ and perennial power Pittsfield American looming, Albareda wanted to keep his ace under that threshold.

 

Evan Charter started the sixth for Dalton by reaching on on infield single. But he was erased trying to steal second on a throw by Adams catcher Mikey Durant.

 

The next hitter reached on a one-out walk and went to third when Durant got a sacrifice bunt to third baseman Mazzeo with his 64th pitch.

 

 But during that next at-bat – destined to be the last hitter faced by Durant one way or the other – Adams was able to catch the runner straying too far off third base as Durant made the tag in a rundown to end the game.

 

“It’s huge,” Albareda said of his team’s defense in the sixth inning. “Mikey Durant guns down a runner, that saves pitch count. A [frist-pitch] bunt, throw him out, that’s one pitch. And then they danced on third, and we got them out.

 

“That was huge. Because we go to the bullpen after that.”

 

Instead, Durant got to finish what he started and goes to Thursday’s game on full rest.

 

Pittsfield American beat Adams-Cheshire on Friday night, 10-0. The Americans have one more pool play game, against Dalton-Hinsdale (1-2) on Monday evening, weather permitting.

 

Pittsfield National 11, Great Barrington 1

 

Pittsfield National came into Sunday’s game with a 1-2 record in pool play but still with a chance to get a second crack at the rival Americans, a 4-3 winner when they met in the tourney opener.

 

The Nats needed a win and some help from Dalton-Hinsdale, and they held up their end of the bargain in the first game of Sunday’s double-header.

 

Kevin Smith threw 3 and one-third innings in the four inning win, striking out nine and walking just one while allowing three hits.

 

He also jump-started the Nats’ offense with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the second.

 

Weston Wigglesworth followed with a double and scored on Jace Coco’s one-out dinger to straightaway center field to make it 3-0.

 

The Nationals tacked on four runs in the second, one in the third and finished the game in the bottom of the fourth when Sawyer Lane doubled to right field to plate Danny Hoffman (2-for-3) and make it a 10-run margin.

 

Great Barrington started the game in the right direction when John Gappa worked a leadoff walk in the top of the first. He moved up on a groundout and a pitch to the backstop before scoring on Gavin Fol’s RBI single to left.

 

But that was as far as GB got. Smith struck out seven of the next eight batters he faced.

 

Great Barrington did put a couple of runners on to start the top of the fourth, including Gappa, who reached on a bunt single. But Kody Lesser came out of the pen of the Nats to end the game with a strikeout.