The Norwalk Riptide concluded a fabulous 28-3 season Sunday with a loss to Dover, N.H., in the losers' bracket final of the New England Regional in the Babe Ruth 12-and-under softball tournament. Norwalk lost, 9-2, but the manager felt proud of his girls' effort in the tournament.
"I think we played well,'' manager Wally Hurd said. "We went 3-0 in pool play and we got the top seed in our pool, and you start feeling good. We just didn't get the big hits when we needed to in a couple of games."
Norwalk lost to Monadnock, N.H., 7- 0, in the first game of the double-elimination round on Saturday. After beating host Lou Leaver of Lancaster, N.H., 8-3. Dover, which lost to Norwalk on Saturday, bounced back in Sunday's rematch with three runs in the first and two in the second to build a quick 5-0 lead. Norwalk sliced it to 5-2 before Dover put the game away. Nicole Bonanni singled and came around to score Norwalk's first run. Amy Hurd doubled and scored on a throwing error for another run. Becky Stefanatos had an RBI groundout.
"In the first three games of the tournament we hit,'' Hurd said. "After that we just didn't get the hits when we needed to."
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