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NEW CANAAN, Conn. Connecticut Cal Ripken state champions the New Canaan Demons went 6-3 and swatted 13 home runs in last week's Cooperstown (N.Y.) Dreams Park Tournament before falling to a team from California.
New Canaan went 4-2 in pool play, earning the 36 seed in the playoff round. The Demons defeated the Granite State Sluggers (N.H.), 20-8, the Tinton Falls Terminator Squad (N.J.), 11-5, the West Boylston Lions (Mass.), 11-4, and the Roxborough Rebels (Pa.), 8-1, in pool play.
In a wild first playoff game, Jimmy Stanley executed a perfect squeeze bunt, scoring the winning run in the bottom of the sixth in New Canaan's walk-off, 13-12, victory over the Olean Oilers (N.Y.).
The Demons erased an early 3-0 lead, scoring seven runs in the bottom of the first against Olean. Robby Jones then clubbed a three-run homer to tie it up. A two-run single by Stanley gave New Canaan its first lead of the day.
But Olean fought back every time New Canaan went ahead. The lead changed hands three more times before New Canaan managed to knot the game at 12, setting up Stanley's heroics.
New Canaan defeated the Ridgewood Raiders (N.J.), 8-5, in its second playoff game. Matt Burger and Trevor Donnelly each hit home runs to power the Demons' offense.
New Canaan's run came to an end in its third playoff game against the Foster City Stars (Calif.). With the Demons trailing 4-1 in the fifth, Jones hit a two-run homer to cut Foster City's lead to one. But that would be all the offense New Canaan would muster, coming up just short against the tournament's number four seed.
The tourney included 104 teams.
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