Fairfield Ousted From 15-Year-Old Babe Ruth State Tournament

The Fairfield 15-year-old Babe Ruth All-Stars played a spirited brand of baseball Saturday afternoon,  only to fall, 4-2,  to the visitors from Ridgefield at Kiwanis Field.

The defeat eliminated Fairfield from the double-elimination state tournament, as it also lost to Ridgefield, 6-0, in an earlier game.

In order the secure the win, Ridgefield relied on impressive pitching and just enough timely hitting.

 Two early runs left Fairfield in an immediate hole that eventually spoiled the strong pitching of starter Tommy Howell (five strikeouts over six innings) and reliever Victor D'Ascenzo, the son of Fairfield manager Vic D'Ascenzo.

"We started a bit flat today against a tough Ridgfield team," the elder D'Ascenzo said . "By the time we got going at the plate, it was a bit too late. We battled hard, though, so I'm definitely proud of our guys."

Following a pair of runs in each of the first two innings manufactured by way of small ball, Ridgefield turned to starter Chris McClelland, who went five frames and flashed consistent movement and impressive velocity throughout.

Fairfield awakened at the plate in the fourth, when Victor D'Ascenzo ripped an RBI double to plate teammate Alec Creta, who led off with a walk and stole second.

In the fifth, Anthony DiLeo and Charlie Meder got things going with back-to-back seeing-eye singles. Two outs later, Creta stepped up once again, roping a liner to left field to even the score at 2-2.

Ridgefield tacked on two more runs in the sixth inning, courtesy of consecutive crushing doubles off the bats of Harrison Seclare and Phillip Sammon to regain a two-run lead.

"He (McClelland) was outstanding today, and he's been big for all us summer," Ridegefield manager Chris Molyneaux said.. Then when Brad Rosenfield came on in relief in the sixth inning, our pitching didn't miss a beat. Great pitching and very good defense were definitely the keys to this win."

Ridgefield advanced to Sunday's losers' bracker final against Norwalk.  

 "It's tough to lose today, but we battled really hard out there," Howell said. "We felt we could have won, they just hit the ball a bit more than us and they (Ridgefield) definitely have a good team."

Fairfield  backstop Anthony DiLeo supplied the web game of the game in the sixth inning when he sprinted behind the dish and snagged a foul pop-up with great quickness.

 "It just turned out to be too little, too late," DiLeo said. "I'm proud of the way we all tried to battle back, though."