Ridgefield National's Lions Club Wins District One Tournament Of Champions Title

It certainly wasn't the preferred way to win a championship, but the Lions Club, representing Ridgefield National, was declared the winners of the District One all-towns Little League tournament of champions when its opponent didn't have enough players to start Sunday's title game.
 
Rowayton Pizza only had eight players in uniform for the scheduled 5 p.m. start in Stamford because three members of its team were playing in a Cal Ripken tournament in Bethel that ran late. Officials had no choice but to award the Lions Club a forfeit victory.
 
Lions Club manager J.R. Burke said he was "very disappointed" when he found out there wouldn't be an official  contest. Rowayton manager Scott Feinstein declined to comment.
 
It was the Lions Club's second TOC championship in three years, having also won the title under Burke in 2009. This year's team member John Thrasher was a 10-year-old on that club.
 
"We wanted to win this on the field," said Burke, who is retiring after 14 years of managing since the youngest of his three sons is in his final season of Little League. "We're still going to play these guys in a scrimmage and treat it like a real game (which Ridgefield ended up winning, 4-3).
 
"We feel we can beat anybody. We lost two games this entire season, one game by a 1-0 score, the other game by a score of 2-1."
 
The Lions Club, which finished 12-2 in the regular season, won three games to reach the TOC final, including a 6-3 semifinal victory at Wilton earlier Sunday. 

The team opened the tournament with a 15-5 win over Darien in the first round on Monday and followed that up with a 6-3 victory over Weston in the quarterfinals.
 
The Lions Club was forced to play earlier Sunday because its scheduled game against Wilton was postponed on Thursday. The squad would have been in a position of having to play a second game Sunday, putting it at a disadvantage.
 
Ironically, Rowayton Pizza was well-rested after getting its semifinal contest in on Thursday.
 
"We (still) felt good about it," Burke said. "We had a really strong defensive team all year. We didn't need pitchers to strike guys out. As long as the ball was in play, we had good fielders. We've not given up a lot of runs (just 24 in 14 regular-season games)."
 
Thrasher allowed one hit over 5 1/3 innings in the win over Wilton with Peter Dranow recording the final two outs in relief. Matt Stamatis, Will Peters and Thrasher were the hitting stars.
 
"But, really, I want to emphasize that all year it was a team effort," Burke said. "it hasn't been led by one guy. Everybody's contributed the whole run.

Matt Bornstein won two games during the TOC, including Sunday's unofficial game. He and Thrasher were the pitchers who carried the Lions Club throughout the tournament.  

"I enjoy winning this tournament more than winning our own town championship simply because it gives kids who are not All-Stars the opportunity to come to other towns and play other teams, " Burke said. "It's a wonderful tournament and I've enjoyed it both times I've been involved."
 
Six members of the Lions Club team will now represent Ridgefield in the various District One tournaments that begin this week.