BRISTOL, Conn. — The Fairfield (Conn.) American Little Leaguers sustained an untimely loss in their second game of the New England Regional on Sunday against Goffstown, N.H.
The boys from Yarmouth Little League bore the brunt of Fairfield’s vengeance Monday.
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Connor Lynch collected three hits and drove in three runs in two-out situations to pace Fairfield to a 10-1 win at Leon J. Breen Field.
Yarmouth (1-2) meets Andover (Mass.) National at 10 a.m. today, with the possibility of a berth in the single-elimination championship round hanging in the balance. The top four teams in the six-team New England Regional qualify for the championship round.
Manager Jay Tobias remains optimistic about his team’s prospects.
“We have the matchup we like,” he said. “I’d love to have won (Monday), but I think (today) is set up well for us.”
The Fairfield hitters delivered consistently in the clutch.
“We become laser-focused after a loss,” Fairfield Manager Kevin Flynn said. “After each one of our three losses, we’ve come back and played very strong.”
In the first inning, Jack Oricoli cracked a one-out double off Yarmouth starter Luke Klenda. With two down, Grant Carnemark singled him to third. Brendan Flynn and Lynch followed with RBI singles.
Klenda, limited to 20 pitches so he can start today, was replaced by Bobby Murray. Murray walked the next three hitters, with two of them forcing in runs. Connecticut had a 4-0 lead before Yarmouth came to the plate.
“We almost got out of it and it would have carried the momentum into the bottom of the first but it started getting away from us,” Tobias said. “You can’t give up those early runs to a great hitting team like Connecticut. I know we can compete with them.”
The Maine champions cut into the lead in the home half. Chris Romano walked, took second on a groundout, moved to third on a single by Grant Tobias off the third baseman’s leg and alertly scored on Klenda’s sacrifice fly that Lynch caught on a dive.
“Luke’s been hitting great all tournament,” Jay Tobias said. “Here’s a kid who was in the nine hole in the districts and started crushing the ball in the state tournament. He’s seeing the ball great here. He goes up and he has a clear mind. He’s not thinking about a thing except putting his bat on the ball.”
The host club tacked on three runs in the second on a two-out, two-run double by Lynch and a double by Brendan Bucher.
“I just try to drive the ball the other way and just hit it hard,” Lynch said about his inclination to deliver in the clutch.
Yarmouth had two chances to get back in the game. In the fourth inning, Klenda and Conor O’Donnell sliced singles and C.J. Cawley walked to load the bases with one out. Fairfield starter Brendan Layne was replaced by Reed Szemplinski, who struck out John Thoma and retired pinch-hitter Caleb Gray on a forceout.
Yarmouth threatened again in the fifth but couldn’t cut into Connecticut’s 8-1 lead.
Romano led off with a single. Klenda reached on an error with two outs, but Joe DeFusco grounded out.
Oricoli, Carnemark and Flynn hit solo homers for Fairfield.
Layne earned the win, yielding a run on four hits in 3 1/3 innings.
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