A dominant pitching performance by Nick Nardone and a key fifth-inning double by Jack Quinn led the Fairfield American Little League to victory over Auburn, Wash., Friday in the first round of the Little League World Series. Fairfield, the New England Region champions, defeated the Northwest Region champs 3-1 in Williamsport, Pa., in a game seen around the world on ESPN.
Fairfield now plays the winner of Texas/Minnesota on Sunday at 8 p.m. The game will be live blogged here on the Daily Fairfield. (More details at the end of this story).
"It's great to get the first one in the pool play here," Fairfield manager Chris Daley said on ESPN following the game. "Nick pitched an incredible game, Jack came up with the big hit and we had incredible support from the town all game long that really pulled us through."
Nardone pitched 5 ? innings, striking out 10 batters and allowing six hits and an unearned run. After reaching the Little League pitch limit of 85, he was relieved by Eddie Magi, who forced a fly-out to right field to end the game and picking up the save. With the game tied at 1-1 in the bottom of the fifth, Quinn hit a two-run double to the gap in right-center off Washington reliever Isaiah Hatch, scoring Nardone and Chris Howell.
"I just loaded up early, swung and hoped I hit it, and it worked out," Quinn said on ESPN.
Fairfield is 1-0 in the World Series and 21-1 overall this summer. The first round is in the double elimination format, so Fairfield advances to the winner's bracket and will face the winner of Texas and Minnesota, who started at 3 p.m. Friday.
While Fairfield had three errors, standout defensive plays were made all around. The biggest play came with runners on second and third for Washington in the top of the fifth and the game tied 1-1. Shortstop Tommy Ryan snared a ground ball and threw home, where catcher Chris Daley grabbed the ball and tagged out the runner to keep the game tied.
Fairfield broke through early in the game when Nate Klein scored on a wild pitch. Klein had two.
Washington scored its run in the bottom of the fourth on a single, error and another single off Nardone.
The game took just over an hour-and-half as Nardone continued his blistering pace on the mound.
To see a recap of the game as live blogged by The Daily Fairfield, click here. We will be live blogging the Sunday night game on The Daily Fairfield. Be sure to check in to chat and interact with your fellow Fairfield fans.
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