Luke Fenig doubled in a run and went three innings on the mound as Great Barrington topped the Pittsfield Little League American Division, 5-3, in the rain-shortened championship game of the Don Gleason District 1 tournament at Olympian Meadows. On Saturday, Fenig drove in the tying and winning runs of a 14-13 game against the Pittsfield Nationals that saw Great Barrington surrender three runs in the top of the sixth to fall behind, 13-10. “We haven’t been together too long, and our first game was Friday and it continued into Saturday,” Great Barrington manager Jason Gappa said. “In that game, we were down three times, and this group came back.
The Americans scored more than twice as many runs as its opponent had plate appearances in a 23-1 win over Dalton-Hinsdale to advance to the state sectional tournament. But all that offense was superfluous with a lights-out pitching performance from the tandem of Cooper Reed and Jack Wendling. Reed struck out five in two innings of work and allowed just one unearned run before turning the ball over to Wendling with a 22-run lead. Wendling got the first two batters he faced on ground balls before getting a swinging third strike to end the game. “Our pitching staff, even in their house league, they continue to throw strikes non-stop, and it was nice to see them coming in and doing the job, getting the job done,” Pittsfield Americans manager B.J. Jefferson said.