Greenwich Ousts Ridgefield From FCIAC Baseball Tournament

Lightning didn't strike twice. 

Ridgefield hoped to repeat last week's upset victory against Greenwich, which ushered the Tigers into the FCIAC baseball tournament. But the seventh-seeded team could not get by the strong pitching and nearly perfect defense from the No. 2 Cardinals on Monday afternoon.

Greenwich advanced to the semifinals with a 7-1 victory over Ridgfield, four days afer the Tigers defeated the Cardinals, 4-1, in Ridgefield.

Greenwich (17-4) was the only favorite to win on a day of upsets that saw top seed Staples beaten by No. 8 Westhill, 7-4. In the semifinals, the Cardinals will take on No. 6 St. Joseph, which upset No. 3 Norwalk.

After an up-and-down regular season, Ridgefield (12-9) now prepares for the state tournament that begins next week.

Monday was a day of small ball, as the Cardinals manufactured runs inning after inning. The game was void of homers and there was only one extra-base hit.

"They were a lot more solid today," said Tigers co-captain Mark Giles, who was 1-for-3. "They made every play, and that's what hurt us."

"Dan (Zarnik) pitched great, but we need to work on our bunts and the manufactured runs instead of trying to rip triples," Giles said.

Greenwich jumped on the scoreboard in the first. Typifying the Cardinals' approach to the game, lead-off batter Michael Dunster lined a single to right.

The next batter, co-captain Yuta Okazaki, laid down a picture-perfect sacrifice bunt, advancing Dunster to second. Catcher Joey Marianacci then lined a single to left to bring home Dunster.

The Tigers gave up single runs in each in the first two innings and two more in the third.  

Zarnik showed decent control on the mound, fanning five batters in 5 1/3 innings and giving up only three walks. But the Cardinals kept chipping away, collecting seven hits on the day.

Meanwhile, the Tiger bats were silent. In the first four frames, Cardinal ace Ryan Carr limited Ridgefield to just one hit. Carr matched Zarnik with five strikeouts.

In the top of sixth, the Tigers finally showed some life when leadoff batter Thomas Payne singled and then stole second. Two outs later, Giles lined a single to left to bring in Payne for Ridgefield's sole run.

In their half of the frame, the Cardinals scored three more, putting away the game.

"I was leaving the ball up, and those are the ones they were hitting," Zarnik said. "Plus, our bats weren't alive today, and it's hard to win a game like that. We need to come together as a team."