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FAIRFIELD, Conn. The Fairfield Little League Girls Softball team went down swinging right to the final out. Trailing 9-0 going into the bottom of the sixth inning in Saturday's East Regional championship game against New York, Fairfield scored five runs and brought the tying run to the plate twice before the rally fizzled. New York came away with a 9-5 victory and the accompanying berth to the World Series in Portland.
"We sure made it interesting,'' manager Jarry Rasmussen said. "We talked about getting one run, getting two, getting a third. Who could have thought we'd bring the tying run to the plate. We put on a good show."
The sixth inning hill was simply too steep to climb. New York scored three in the first, one in the second and two in the third. It tacked on three in the sixth. Fairfield, which made four errors, seemed nervous and flat after a draining win Friday night over Maine in the New England final.
"I let them sleep in today, and then we had our practice in the afternoon,'' Ramussen said. "I could sense they were a little nervous."
Fairfield didn't catch a spark until the sixth, when Alice Nelson and Sarah Cotto singled to start the inning. Anna Rasmussen's single drove in two runs. Julia Wilson, Brittany Romero and Gabriella Natoli also had RBIs. On Nelson's second at-bat of the inning, her hard groundball hit Romero on her way to third for the second out. New York got the final out on the next batter.
Nelson and Mary Rose Finnegan had two hits each for Fairfield. Natoli went the distance for Fairfield, surrendering 11 hits and three earned runs and walking six. Besides four errors, several catchable balls fell in for hits.
Fairfield won district, sectional, state and New England championships, all firsts for Fairfield. It fell one game short of reaching the World Series. All in all, it was a memorable summer for the girls, who are all right around 12 years old.
"I'm so proud of these girls,'' Rasmussen said. "They did everything we could've ever dreamed, and more."
What is your best memory of the Fairfield girls' run this summer? Start the discussion below!
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