NAUGATUCK, CT — Monroe’s 11U Little League All Stars steamrolled opponents to capture their second District title in a row, culminating with a convincing 9-2 win over Naugatuck at Peter J. Foley Stadium Wednesday night.
Monroe’s starting pitcher, Mac Fink, led the way with a dominant performance on the mound, striking out 13 Naugatuck batters, while only giving up one hit and no runs through five-and-a-third innings.
“Mac pitched a great game,” Monroe Head Coach Ryan Driscoll said after the award ceremony. “He played great all tournament, starting three of our four games.”
In the double elimination tournament, Monroe went 4-0, while beating Derby and Seymour once and Naugatuck twice. The first three games were won by the fourth inning via the mercy rule with Monroe leading by 10 or more runs.
Fink threw the maximum number of pitches allowed by league rules, so he was taken out in the top of the fifth with one out and a runner on first base, who had walked to lead off the inning.
Relief pitchers, Benjamin Cerrato and Brandon Glick combined to protect Monroe’s big lead and close out the win. The game ended in the sixth, when Glick got the first two batters to fly out, before catching a soft liner himself to seal the victory.
Monroe will move on and compete in the sectionals next week, playing games on July 9 and 11, both at 6 p.m. at Peter J. Foley Stadium.
An early lead
After Fink fanned three batters in the top of the first, Monroe didn’t waste any time getting on the scoreboard in the bottom half of the inning.
Leadoff hitter, Colin Driscoll, got things going with a single. Then Matthew Domenici hit a dribbler down the third base line and beat out the throw, which Naugatuck’s first baseman couldn’t handle.
Taking advantage of the errant throw, Driscoll hustled on the base paths to score and Domenici slid safely into third.
Later in the inning, Glick drew a walk, putting runners at the corners. With teammate Harrison Grant at the plate, Glick stole second.
Grant grounded out to second, but moved the baserunners. Domenici scored for a 2-0 lead, while Glick advanced to third on the play.
With two outs, Derek Flynn belted a line drive down the first base line. The ball got past the right fielder, rolling into the corner. Flynn’s RBI double easily brought Glick home, making it 3-0.
Monroe would add one more run, when Cerrato singled past the shortstop to bring Flynn in to score, making it 4-0 after one.
Monroe added 3 more runs in the third inning.
Continuing his patience at the plate, Glick got the offense going by drawing his second walk of the game. Moments later, he stole second.
Grant doubled to left, driving in a run, as Glick came around to score. Then Flynn hit a single that dropped into shallow center field, allowing Grant to slide into home plate to score.
While Naugatuck’s fielders tried to prevent the run, Flynn took full advantage, running all the way to third base.
Cerrato followed with a sacrifice fly to right, making it 7-0 Monroe.
Naugatuck scored twice in the top of the fifth to close the gap to 7-2, but Monroe added two more runs in the bottom of the inning.
Grant smacked a double to right and Flynn followed with an RBI single. A ground out by Cerrato moved Flynn to third and he later scored on a wild pitch to make it 9-2.
Head Coach Ryan Driscoll leads the team with assistant coaches Nick Franzago and Andrew Grant. Driscoll said most of the players on his team were part of last year’s squad, which won the District Championship before falling in the sectionals.
“A lot of these kids play Travel Baseball together,” he said. “This is a super tight group. They’ll leave here and go straight to the pool at Wolfe Park.”
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