FAIRFIELD, Conn. The Fairfield Little League softball All-Stars swept Mystic over the weekend to win the state championship. They head to the East Regionals beginning Friday in Bristol.
Fairfield won 3-2 on Saturday and 6-2 on Sunday at Hatters Park in Danbury. Fairfield is now 11-1 in postseason competition and has won 10 straight. Its only loss was to Black Rock in the second game of the District 2 tournament. Fairfield, which went 5-0 in its run to the Section 1 championship, is scheduled to play Vermont at 8:15 p.m. Friday.
Alice Nelson got the victory for Fairfield in Sunday's clincher. She struck out three and walked four.
Her teammates staked her to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first on RBIs from Sara Cotto and Emma Houghton. Fairfield added a run in the third. Mystic rallied for a run in the bottom of the inning and got within 3-2 in the fourth. In the fifth, Fairfield scored a run on a passed ball before Gabby Natoli's second double of the game drove in two more to break it open. Fairfield had five hits and took advantage of seven walks and several errors by Mystic.
In the opening game Saturday night, Mystic took a 2-0 lead off Fairfield starter Brittany Romero in the first inning. Fairfield clawed back with a run in the fourth, and Romero's two-run triple in the fifth gave Fairfield its first lead. Fairfield turned a double play in the fifth to get out of a jam, and Mary Rose Finnigan fielded a smash at third and threw out the runner to end the game.
"Mystic was quite a club,'' Fairfield manager Jarry Rasmussen said. "The first game was a grind, and we were able to capitalize on some mistakes. We made some base-running blunders, but any time you win, you're happy to move on. We were able to take advantage of the opportunities that we had."
Fairfield now moves into uncharted waters. This is the first time a Fairfield team has qualified for the New England Regional. The team will stay in dorms at the A. Bartlett Giamatti complex in Bristol. The tournament runs through July 30. Complete schedules are on the East Regional Little League website.
"We're trying to figure things out--how to get our feet underneath us,'' Rasmussen said. "We've never done this before. Our girls were told to pack for nine days. I think we're all a little overwhelmed right now by all of this."
Do you have state tournament photos of the Fairfield girls? Send them to [email protected].
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