PEPPERELL, Mass. – Pepperell handed Berkshire a 12-6 loss on Monday in the semi-finals of the Western Massachusetts Cal Ripken 11-and-under State Championship.

 

After dropping a 4-0 loss to Pepperell on Sunday in pool play, Berkshire came out fired up and took a quick 3-0 lead after the top of the first inning on three walks and two Pepperell errors.

 

The score remained the same until the top of the fourth, when Brendan Armstrong scored his second run of the night on a double by Cliff Flynn, putting Berkshire ahead 4-0.

 

In the home half of the fourth, Pepperell finally broke through against starting pitcher Flynn with four consecutive singles and two walks. He was replaced on the mound by Michael Naventi and along with a couple Berkshire miscues the inning ended with Berkshire behind 9-4.

 

Berkshire’s Jack Clarke came up in the fifth and hit a triple to right scoring Naventi, cutting the lead to 9-5.

 

Pepperell scored more in its half of the fifth, making the score 12-5.

 

Michael Ward started off the sixth inning for Berkshire with a single and came around to score, but the Pepperell pitching struck out three of the next four Berkshire batters to go on to the finals. 

 

For Berkshire, Jack Clarke had a triple and RBI while Brendan Armstrong was 2-for-3 with two runs scored and was once again stellar behind the plate.