Fairfield American 10-Year-Old All-Stars Win New England Championship

Behind lanky southpaw Matt Kubel, who allowed four unearned runs, the Fairfield American 10-year-old All-Stars defeated Parkway American Little League, the Massachusetts state champions, 6-4, Friday in the New England title game.

Fairfield American advanced to the finals of the Eastern Regional Invitational against Commack, the New York state champions, Saturday at 3 p.m at the  Chafee Complex in Cranston, Rhode Island.

"It feels terrific," Fairfield American coach Bill Meury told the Cranston Herald. "Like all the teams here, we've been playing together for almost three months and its been virtually every day for the parents, the coaches and the kids. It's really nice to sort of finish off (the New England championship) with a win."

Fairfield American, which is 5-0 in the tournament, appeared headed to an easy win after jumping out to a five-run lead in the first inning, when it scored three runs on bases-loaded walks.

Massachusetts, which lost to Fairfield American, 12-2, earlier in the tournament, made things interesting, as it tried to rally from a 6-0 deficit.

 But Kubel scattered five hits while striking out two and issuing no walks while going the distance.  

"He's a really big kid," Meury added. "The most important thing for him is to find his release point. And if he finds his release points, he's going to find strikes. If he throws strikes, he's hard to hit. He throws a heavy ball. There's a lot of lefties on the Mass. team, and it's not easy to hit a lefty."

In an ironic twist,  Meury grew up in Amityville on Long Island and his Little League teams were routinely beaten by Commack.

"We used to get whipped all the time by Commack," Meury said.

Years later, he will have a chance at revenge.