Wilton Scores and Standings: July 27

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Danbury's Frank Bensel carded his second straight 3-under 68 to take a two-shot lead after the second round of the 77th Connecticut Open at the Brooklawn County Club in Fairfield.

First-round David Pastore of Greenwich, who plays out of the E-Club in Fairfield. followed up a 66 with a 5-over 76 to fall to a tie for 12th at 142 - six shots off the lead.

Greenwich's Daniel Balin, who plays out of Burning Tree, continued his steady play with a 2-under 69, leaving him alone in fourth at 139.

Greenwich's Country Club's Jason Caron followed up a first-round 73 with a 67 to move into a tie for fifth with Wilton's Brian Murphy at 140. Pastore and Murphy are amateurs.

Among other local players, Shorehaven's Jerry Courville is tied for eighth at 141 (71-70) and Redding's Jim St. Pierre is deadlocked for 12th after his second straight 71.

Weston's Bernie D'Amato, another amateur, just missed the cut after his second straight 74. The top 40 low scores, plus ties, advanced to
Wednesday's final round.

Other area players who made the cut were Stamford's Mike Ballo Jr. (145), Greenwich's Reed Howard (145) and Fairfield's John Deigan (146).

Defending champion Kyle Gallo of Kensington, who is seeking a record fifth Connecticut Open title, shot a 69, but is still seven shots behind Bensel in a tie for 18th.

The final gets under way Wednesday at 8 p.m..

The 11-year-old Wilton baseball team clinched a spot in the section one finals with a 4-2 win over Seymour on Sunday.

The victory set up Wednesday's final match at Bridgeport's Blackham School (5:30 p.m.) against Fairfield American, which secured its berth on Saturday.

On Tuesday, Fairfield American defeated Wilton 12-0 in four innings to complete pool play at 4-0. Wilton finished 3-1. The game was postponed from Monday.

The Wilton 11-year-old All-Stars will play the winner of Fairfield National and Newtown on Wednesday in Route 84 summer playoffs.

Trailing by a run in the bottom of the sixth inning, the Wilton 11s All-Stars showed their grit and tenacity by rallying for a 5-4 walk-off victory over Brookfield on Monday night.

Down after the first inning, Wilton scored single runs in each of next three innings to take a 3-1 lead. Brookfield (13-4) got hot in the fifth inning, scoring three runs off Wilton ace Will Suchy to grab a 4-3 lead.

But second baseman Griffin Klinga made a spectacular tag and throw to complete  a 4-4-3 double play and keep the deficit at one run.

Wilton threatened in the fifth as centerfielder Matt Rubsam reached on an error, then stole second and third.

Ian Filaski then hit a slow roller between first and second. As the first baseman bobbled the ball, the race for the bag ended in a collision between the Brookfield first baseman and Filaski. Although the ball was jarred loose, Filaski was called out and Wilton still needed a run.

Wilton's defense turned another double play in the top of the sixth. With a runner on first, Klinga fielded a grounder and flipped the ball to shortstop Dillon Lifrieri, who fired errantly to first. As the runner headed to second, first baseman Matt D'Elisa fired the ball back to Lifrieri for the tag to complete the double play.

Wilton was down to its last strike in the bottom of the inning, but D'Elisa smashed a single to score the fleet-footed Liam Murray with the tying run. Two pitches later, Lifriei stole home to score the winning run.

Pitcher Ben Rusin was effective on the mound again, pitching two scoreless innings and was aided by spectacular catches by leftfielder Sam Johns and centerfielder Suchy. D'Elisa also hurled two innings and struck out 3.

AMERICAN LEGION BASEBALL STANDINGS