45°
DARIEN, Conn. Dariens 13-year-old Babe Ruth team has done things the hard way most of the summer. The bottom line, however, is that the team continues to find ways to win.
The latest came Sunday when it pushed home two runs in the bottom of the seventh for a walkoff 6-5 victory over Shoreline in the Babe Ruth state tournament. Darien, which came out of the losers bracket to win the District 1 title, will play New Milford in the winners bracket final Wednesday in Watertown. The winner advances to the championship round. The loser meets Norwak in the losers bracket final and would need to win three games to earn the state title.
Darien rallied from a 4-0 deficit in Sundays game to pull out the victory. Darien trailed Watertown 5-0 after the first inning of its opening game before rallying for an 11-10 victory. Weve gotten pretty lucky in these first two game, Darien manager Joe Marzano said. We were able to come back after spotting them all those runs.
In Sundays win, Darien trailed 5-4 entering the seventh when it loaded by the bases with none out. After an out on a force play at home, Brian Peters RBI single scored Casey Brown with the tying run. Jack Farrens hard grounder to short scored Tyler Grant with the winning run. Brown got the win with two shutout innings in relief of starter Andrew Winsch. Peters had two RBIs.
In the win over Watertown, Brown had four hits and six RBIs while Peters pitched two scoreless innings in relief to get the win. Trailing 10-5, Darien scored two in the sixth and four in the seventh to take the lead. Kevin Pidgeon had three walks and scored two runs, while Christopher Drake had two RBIs and reached base three times. Matthew Drake scored three runs and also reached base three times.
I think the first game we were a little nervous, and in the second game, I dont know what happened, Marzano said. Once the games get going, they settled down and we got a few timely hits.
Marzano is familiar with New Milford, which plays Darien in another summer league. We cant afford like that few runs, he said. If our bats keep going, we feel like we can play with anybody.
Click here to follow Daily Voice Darien and receive free news updates.
