The Stamford Senior Babe Ruth team threw away its chances at the New England title. Both teams battled the heat and injuries, but a whopping six errors cost Stamford dearly as Eastern Massachusetts eliminated them from the tournament in a sloppy contest, 11-8.
"It's two teams that were tired and had to come battle," Stamford manager Mike Walsh said. "They got one more hit and maybe one more call and that's the way things go."
Things looked bleak early on as Chris LaRusso had a tough day on the field committing three throwing errors in the first inning. To make matters worse, Stamford's starter Mitch O'Meara had to be taken out of the game in the third inning because of a back injury. Stamford was suddenly looking up at a 7-2 deficit.
They stormed right back coming up with five runs in the third including a two-run triple from Mike Scaturcchio and an RBI double from Sean Mullins. Steve Rivera finished the day 4-for-4 with two RBI as well. Nate Newhall put in a valiant effort pitching in relief of O'Meara even though he had pitched the day before.
The errors kept coming for Stamord however, and Waterford took full advantage of them. Walsh said it was a disappointing way to end the season, but he is still proud of his players.
"We had a meeting and it was a little emotional," Walsh said. "They're good kids and they battle hard. A lot of them are continuing on and whatever they do in life, I hope they play hard like they did in this tournament."
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