Fairfield American Looks To Bounce Back On Monday Night

As bad as Sunday night was, the Fairfield American players can take solace in the fact that the 14-1 defeat to Pearland, Texas did not eliminate them from the Little League World Series.

Since pool play is double elimination, it takes two losses to send a team home, and Fairfield American will look to stay alive on Monday night when it will be  back in action against Auburn, Washington, the Northwest Region champion. The game will be televised by ESPN2 at 8 p.m.

While Sunday's defeat hurt, Fairfield American should be confident heading into Monday's game because it defeated Auburn, 5-2, in the first round on Friday.

Jack Quinn, who snapped a 1-1 tie with a two-run double in the bottom of the fifth inning, will be on the mound for the locals.

"It's an elimination game, we'll be ready," Fairfield American  manager Chris Daley said.

After losing to the Fairfielders, Auburn avoided elimination with a 5-2 victory over Plymouth, Minnesota, the Midwest representative in the LLWS, on Saturday.

If Fairfield American wins Monday, it would get another crack at Pearland, but would have to defeat the Southwest Region champions twice to advance to the semifinals next weekend.

"We hope we have the chance to see them again Tuesday," Daley added.

Fairfield American will be looking to get its offense going, as it has been held to five runs in its last three games.

But regardless of what happens Monday, the club will come home with at least one victory in the LLWS, which is one more than the four teams who were eliminated over the weekend after losing their first two games.

NOTES -- Little League officials now say that Saturday's games in Williamsport attracted 30,000 fans, the greatest  single-day attendance total in LLWS history outside of a championship game.