Darien Nat'l Bests Ridgefield Nat'l In District One

The Darien National Little League team churned out 13 runs in the first two innings Monday on its way to a 15-6 win over Ridgefield National in the District I tournament.

The game got off to a wild start on a 95-degree afternoon at Fitzgerald Field. Darien set things in motion with seven runs in the top of the first inning, highlighted by Charlie Travers' two-run home run. 

Ridgefield, for its part, answered with six runs in its first at-bat, pulling within one on Matt Rapp's three-run shot.

But Darien then notched six more runs in the top of the second—including another two-run homer by Travers—to widen the gap again. Danny Boyle also went deep in the second for the winners. 

Darien's pitching settled down, blanking Ridgefield the rest of the way. Darien, which could be the class of the tournament, improved to 3-0 in its seven-team pool.

Ridgefield dropped to 1-2 in pool play, meaning it likely will have to win its final three games in round robin competition to have a chance to advance to the single-elimination semifinals.

Travers went 4-for-4, also adding a double and single, and tossed a scoreless inning in relief of Darien starter Casey Brown, who was 3-for-4 with a home run.

Ridgefield reliever Ben Kagan took over in the second and cooled off Darien's potent offense, allowing only a  pair of solo homers.

Other than those two blips, Kagan shut down Darien's offense by inducing a number of groundouts. He kept the Darien hitters off balance with a nasty curve and a slow knuckler.