Sports

Regional Team Headed for the Little League World Series

Fairfield American clinches berth in LLWS with 1-0 victory over Cumberland National in New England Regional championship game.

The chants of "Eddie, Eddie" echoed from the jubilant Fairfield American fans among the overflow crowd at Breen Field in Bristol.

Facing enormous pressure, Eddie Magi struck out Justin D'Ambrosca on a 3-2 pitch with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

When D'Ambrosca swung through a chest-high fastball, Magi jumped into the arms of catcher Connor Daley, and their teammates stormed out of the dugout.

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The mission, the dream was complete: Fairfield American had punched its ticket to Williamsport and the Little League World Series, continuing its magical summer by closing out a pulsating 1-0 victory over Cumberland National in the New England Regional championship game.

Shortstop Tommy Ryan gave Fairfield American the only run it needed with a home run in the top of the third inning.

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"I am extremely proud," Fairfield American coach Chris Daley said. "They worked so hard and they definitely deserve this. We beat an extremely good Rhode Island team. (Cumberland National starter) Tyler (Calabro) pitched a heck of a game and we got great defense to make one run hold up."

Faifield American became the 15th team to represent Connecticut in the LLWS and the second since Trumbull National won it all in 1989. Shelton National went two years ago.

The locals, who improved to 20-1 in the postseason, will play the Northwest champion on Friday at 1 p.m. at Volunteer Stadium in their first LLWS contest.

Nick Nardone pitched the game of his life Saturday, allowing only one hit, a leadoff single to Josh Brodeur in the bottom of the first.

"I pitch very good under pressure," Nardone said. "I knew this was my game. I prepared myself and I knew I had this."

But Nardone tired in the sixth and reached his pitch limit after walking Jax Domonte to load the bases.

Chris Daley had to call in Magi, who fell behind to D'Ambrosca, 2-0, increasing the drama. He then then got two called strikes before his 2-2 pitch was called a ball.

It all came down to one pitch, and Magi won the battle. He recorded the save after earning the win in Fairfield American's first two victories in the regionals.

"I just hugged all my teammates," Nardone added. "It was awesome."

"I was confident that (Magi) was going to get the job done," Chris Daley added. "That was a tough, tough spot."

Fairfield American avenged an earlier 2-0 loss to Cumberland National in pool play eight days ago.

Nardone and Calabro faced each Saturday in a rematch of their earlier meeting, when Calabro tossed a three-hit shutout.

Calabro was dominant once again, allowing only four hits with no walks and 10 strikeouts. On this night, however, Nardone was just a little bit better, finishing with three walks and nine strikeouts.

Fairfield American finally broke through on Ryan homer. It was the first run allowed by Calabro after 10 scoreless innings in the tournament.

"It was big to get the first run," Ryan said. "I knew there was a lot of game left, but the first run really matters in a big game."

Chris Howell then made the defensive play of the game in the fifth, when Cumberland National's Mike Bogolowski made a bid to tie the game with one of the few balls hit hard off Nardone.

But Howell made a leaping  catch to haul in Bogolowski's drive against the center-field wall. Bogolowski missed a home run by a few feet.

Fairfield American continued to flash the leather in the inning. The next batter, Nate Paine,  hit a liner up the middle, but Nardone made a leaping grab to snare the ball and get the out at first.

Jake Salisbury reached on Nardone's error, but was thrown out stealing on Connor Daley's perfect throw to  Ryan to end the fifth.

Chris Daley pointed out that Fairfield American played a number of close games in the regionals, which wasn't the case during its state championship run. None of its six games here were decided by more than three runs.

"I think that probably gave the team experience and poise in close and tight situations," the manager said said. "I think that came in handy tonight."

Anticipation for the clash began early in the day with fans of both teams arriving six hours before the first pitch.

Little League officials were expecting a crowd of between 6,000-8,000, which would far exceed the bleacher capacity of 3,500 at Breen Field. The official attendance was listed at 7,894.

With fans lining the fence around the outfield, it made for a spectacular setting on a picture-perfect summer evening in Bristol. Fans in Fairfield and Cumberland also tuned into the game on ESPN.

"This game was what we expected," Cumberland manager John Brodeur said. "We expected that it would go down to the wire like the other game did. If we play this team 10 times, we'd probably go 5-5. They got the one big hit and that's all they needed."

Like in their earlier meeting, Nardone and Calabo matched zeroes through two innings. Cumberland had a chance in the first, when Nardone gave up a hit and walk, but Ryan handled a bad hop on D'Abrosca's hard grounder and flipped to second for a force to end the inning.

Nardone, meanwhile, pitched quickly, aggressively attacking the strike zone and keeping the Cumberland National hitters on their heels with his fast delivery.

He was virtually untouchable after giving up a single to Brodeur in the bottom of the first, retiring the next 12 batters.


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