BRISTOL — The Fairfield National baseball team scored six runs in its first three games of the Little League Metro Region tournament at Breen Field.
In Friday night’s championship game against St. James-Smithtown of New York, Fairfield National scored seven runs in the top of the fourth inning alone. The seven runs were part of an offensive explosion and a 12-1 victory.
The Connecticut champion pounded out 14 hits to become the first state team to earn a regional berth and advance to the Little League World Series since Fairfield American made the trip in 2017. They are the 22nd Connecticut team to reach Williamsport. Manchester went in 2021 as the New England runner-up when international teams didn’t play because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
"I feel great, we’re going to Williamsport. It’s my dream," said winning pitcher Luca Pelligrini (4 innings, 1 run, 1 hit, 9 strikeouts, 2 walks, 2 hit batsmen).
"It’s not a sigh of relief. When all of your hard work pays off and you can get to a childhood dream with these guys, it’s a special thing," Fairfield National manager Brian Palazzolo said. "I couldn’t be more happy for our players, our coaches, families."
Fairfield National reached the championship game with a 3-0 win in extra innings against Jackson Holbrook of New Jersey. Their other win also came over Jackson Holbrook, 2-1, in the opener for both teams
Fairfield National opens against Southwest Champion Lamar Little League of Richmond, Texas, on Wednesday at 7 p.m. (ESPN).
The last Connecticut team to win the World Series was the Chris Drury-led Trumbull National squad that beat Taiwan, 5-2, in 1989.
Fairfield National jumped all over St. James-Smithtown starter Jeremy Katz and made the right-hander throw 33 pitches while getting just one out.
The trouble started with SJ Taxiltaridis’ one-out single. Taxiltaridis took second before the ball was back on the mound. After a Tommy D’Amura walk, Jimmy Taxiltaridis stroked an RBI double to right-center to score SJ for a 1-0 lead. Dante Madera followed with a two-run triple on a hop off the right-center fence to score D’Amura and Jimmy Taxiltaridis for a 3-0 lead.
"It helps me a lot," Pelligrini said of the early run support. "It helps me stay locked in, pitching strikes. I was picking up a lot of momentum with each batter."
Pelligrini walked his first batter, then struck out the side. Pelligrini’s RBI single in the top of the second inning gave Fairfield National a 4-0 lead, then he struck out the side again in the bottom of the frame. In the third, Ben Herbst’s RBI single gave Fairfield National a commanding 5-0 lead.
Pelligrini’s strikeout streak reached seven in a row before Lucas Kostas grounded out to D’Amura at first base in the bottom of the third. St. James-Smithtown got its first hit in the third inning when JT Borowski singled off the glove of third baseman Brian Palazzolo. Hit by pitches to Gary Rocco and Hunter Falcone were sandwiched around the hit and loaded the bases. A bases-loaded walk to Chase Saxon scored Rocco with the first St. James-Smithtown run. SJ Taxiltaridis made a nice play on the run at shortstop to get the final out.
"The kid pounds the zone. Nothing fazes him," Palazzolo said about Pelligrini. "Smithtown had that little rally going in the third inning there, the crowd got a little (in their favor), we were on our toes a little bit. He buckled down, another web gem play by SJ to get us out of that inning. It was a slow roller, and (he had to) come in, scoop it, and fire across the diamond."
Fairfield National got the run back in the fourth when Charlie McCullough reached on a single, moved up to second base on a grounder to the pitcher, then scored on an infield error. That was only the start of things for Fairfield National, which exploded for seven runs.
"We were able to keep our bats alive and close them out. Seven in the fourth is a special thing," Palazzolo said. "We’ve been putting up crooked numbers all year, haven’t really seen it here, but we knew it was coming. We never know when it’s coming, but our bats were there, and we were ready to rock."
D’Amura ripped an RBI single back up the middle to push the lead to 7-1. Bases loaded walks to Madera and Herbst made the score 9-1. Colin Curley’s two-run single stretched the lead to 11-1, then an RBI single by Joe Sorrentino made it 12-1.
"We got our bats, and we went to work. We hit, we hit, we hit. We knew it was there," Palazzolo said about the team's work following Monday's loss. "We just had to fine-tune everybody. It was a good tune-up, and we put the ball in play. Chasing barrels, and good things happen."
The Fairfield National, and Connecticut fans in general, were cheering from the first inning on, and the support was much appreciated.
"It was our home state in Bristol. A bunch of fans were here, and they got us pumped up. I lost my voice cheering so much," Madera said.
"The crowd was electric. We had a big Fairfield fan base," Palazzolo said. "All of Fairfield National and Fairfield American, I saw a bunch of their hats up there. The whole state came out to support us, from the whole left side all the way out to center field. It was pretty cool, it was standing room only."
Pelligrini got a fly out to Madera in center field, then struck out the final two batters to end the game via the mercy rule after four innings.
Fairfield National got a chance for payback Friday and seized it. There was celebrating to do after the postgame press interviews, but the team is slated to be on the bus early Saturday for the nearly 300-mile ride from Bristol to Williamsport, Penn.