Stamford Beats Ridgefield in 15-Year-Old Babe Ruth State Final

Ridgefield's bid for a championship in the 15-year-old Babe Ruth state tournament came up two games short.

After grabbing an early three-run lead, Ridgefield was shut down by Stamford reliever Luis Lopez and fell, 8-5, in the title game Monday evening at Kiwanis Field.

Had Ridgefield won Monday, the teams would have met again on Tuesday in a winner-take-all battle in the double-elimination tournament. Stamford advances to the New England Regionals in Quincy, Mass.

Lopez tossed six effective frames in relief of starter Danny O'Leary, who had to leave the game after the first inning because of an injury. Lopez blanked Ridgefield until giving up a two-run double in the seventh to Danny Lake, who had three hits and three RBI.

"We gave away runs and errors killed us completely," Lake said. "We got to make plays."

The team was especially disappointed because of the sloppy defense that included four errors. All of them were costly, as only half of Stamford's runs were earned.

Still holding a 3-1 lead, Ridgefield's defense collapsed in the third as two errors and a passed ball led to four runs.

"It's youth sports, and I understand it," Ridgefield coach Chris Molyneaux said, "but when you come so close to winning a state championship, it hurts."

"I don't mind getting my butt kicked, but to go out the way we did is disheartening— errors in the field, missed opportunities -  and we start off so well."

Still on a high following Saturday's 3-2 win over Norwalk, Ridgefield came out swinging Monday as the first four batters reached safely.

Lake's bases-loaded single got Ridgefield on the board. Another run scored on Josh Newborn's groundout before Chris McClelland's perfectly executed squeeze made it 3-0.

But Ridgefield could have done even more damage, as Stamford second baseman Steven D'Annolfo made a leaping grab of Tyler Terbrusch's liner and turned it into an inning-ending double play.

The turning point of the game may have come when O'Leary suffered a cut on his hand during a collision with Robby DePalma on DePalma's hit leading off the top of the second .

Lopez, who may have tired in the seventh, surrendered only two hits from the second through sixth innings.

"The reliever threw hard,"  Molyneaux said. "He had good stuff—he had electric stuff."

Stamford began to pull away, tacking on two  runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to make it 8-3. Ridgefield starter Brad Rosenfield, who pitched in relief the previous two days, was pulled after the fourth. 

Lake insisted the errors had nothing to do with nerves, which could have been attributed to playing in a championship game.

"Nothing nervous," he said.  "I felt pretty confident going out there. I thought we had this game, leading 3-1. I thought we were just going to shut them down."

Ridgefield did go down fighting, coming within one batter of getting the tying run to the plate in the seventh.

"We scored a couple runs and I was very proud of the kids for doing that," Molyneaux said. "We didn't  lay down, but still, though: what could have been if we just played good defense."  

According to Lake, Ridgefield can take some satisfaction from beating Norwalk, which apparently was the least popular of the eight teams in the field. On Sunday, Ridgefield avenged a 19-2 defeat to the Norwalkers earlier in the tournament.

"Beating Norwalk, that was my main goal this season," Lake said. "I love to say I hate that team as much as I do. It's like winning a championship when you beat Norwalk. They (Stamford) hate them as much as we do. They're just really cocky."

Ridgefield went 4-2 in the tournament, winning three in a row after the earlier defeat to Norwalk.