Westport Falls To Fairfield National 11-5 In Loser's Bracket Final of District Two Tournament

The Westport 12-year-old All-Stars hoped to spoil the anticipated all-Fairfield final in the District Two Little League tournament. Instead, they fell victim to a long-ball assault on Friday.

Reed Harrington, Hunter Rempe, Jono Zarrilli and Chris Kral all homered as Fairfield National defeated Westport 11-5 in the loser's bracket at the Blackham School.

Fairfield National will take on Fairfield American on Saturday at 12 p.m. at Blackham with the winner advancing to the section one tournament which starts Wednesday in Orange. If Fairfield National wins, the teams will play a deciding game on Sunday at noon.

Westport grabbed an early lead, parleying doubles by Jon Dedomenico and Max Richlin into a pair of runs in the top of the first. But Fairfield answered in the bottom half on Harrington's two-run shot that landed on the opposite field, his second such home run in the tournament.

Rempe connected for a three-run homer in the second and Zarrilli's two-run blast made it 7-2 in the third.

In the fourth, Kral got into the act with a leadoff homer. Zavier Espinel delivered a two-run double -- Fairfield National's first runs not scored via the long ball - to make it 10-2.

In the fifth, Zarrilli scored Fairfield National's final run on a wild pitch. Westport reliever Ryan Fitton pitched out of a bases-loaded jam to keep the game from being called due to the 10-run mercy rule.

Kral, Fairfield's National starter, allowed two runs and three hits over three innings with a walk and two strikeouts. Jack Cohen tossed two-plus innings before Ryan Congdon got the final three outs in the sixth.

Westport scored three runs in its final at-bat on Julian Ross' two-run single and an error. Richlin was Westport's only player with two hits.

Kral, Harrington and Zarrilli each had three hits for Fairfield National.