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FAIRFIELD, Conn. It was awfully quiet on the Fairfield American bench as the defending New England Little League champions trailed Westport, 4-1, in the third inning. There was some nervousness, sure, but confidence in their team's recent history won out.
Fairfield quashed any thoughts of an upset with an eight-run fifth inning rally, thumping Westport, 12-6, in the opening round of double-elimination play in the District 2 playoffs.
"We really didn't have any expectations coming into this tournament. [Last year's team] did what they could do. We're going to do what we can do," said Fairfield's Brendan Flynn, who played on last year's World Series team. "We did start to lose a little confidence when we went down, but once we got one hit we started to cheer and just kept getting more."
The mood of the game shifted in the bottom of the third when Flynn ripped a two-run single to knot the game at 4-all. When Westport took a 5-4 lead, Fairfield knew that if it was given an inch it would pounce. A throwing error put the tying run on third in the bottom of the fifth, and Fairfield got its inch.
Flynn stepped to the plate with one out and delivered the tying run again. This time it opened up the floodgates, as Jack Oricoli and Brendan Bucher hit back-to-back home runs to dead center. Ten straight Fairfield American batters reached before the second out of the inning was recorded.
"When [Westport] only got a one-run lead we knew we would come back," Flynn said. "We're three dimensionalwe can hit, we can pitch and we can field. We can't just rely on one. We have to do all three."
For the first three innings, the story was Westport starting pitcher Max Richlin. Other than the hiccup in the third, the righty cruised against Fairfield. Richlin was even one strike away from getting out of the third unscathed.
But Jon Annuzzi battled for a double down the left field line, cutting Westport's lead to 4-2. Westport pulled Richlin after the fourth due to a high pitch count and Fairfield pounced on Westport's bullpen.
The winner's bracket game will pit Fairfield American against Fairfield National, which defeated Trumbull, 4-3. The two meet Tuesday, July 12, at 5:30 p.m. at Blackham School in Bridgeport.
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