Local roundup: Waterford 15s reach Babe Ruth state final

Simsbury - Connor Lewis drove in five runs as Waterford advanced to the championship round of the Connecticut Babe Ruth 15-year-old baseball tournament with a 15-5 victory over Trumbull on Saturday at Memorial Field.

The game was called after six innings due to the mercy rule. Waterford will play the winner of Sunday's losers' bracket final between Trumbull and Simsbury on Monday at 5:30 p.m. Should the Trumbull-Simsbury winner force a deciding game, it would follow the first game at approximately 8 p.m.

The District 6 champions had 16 hits against Trumbull, with Lewis leading the way with three hits, including a pair of doubles.

Sam Strout, Kyle McComic, Justin Pandolfe and Jesse Coates all contributed two hits, and Pandolfe and Tom Pezzolesi had doubles.

Mike McDermott and Pandolfe combined to pitch a three-hitter.

State Babe Ruth (13)

• Spencer Hoagland and Dan Castelpoggi drove in three runs each to lead Waterford to an 18-8 win over Darien in the losers' bracket final. Waterford hosts unbeaten New Milford today at 11 a.m., followed by a deciding game if Waterford wins. Hoagland was 4-for-4 and Chase Speller, Ben Pickowitz and Castelpoggi had two hits each for Waterford. Mitchell Clapsadle was the winner, allowing two hits and no runs over five innings with five strikeouts.

Section II LL (11-12) baseball

• Waterford South lost to Avon 5-2, falling to 2-2 in pool play. Waterford plays Norwich in its pool play finale Monday. Walker Sutman and Michael Burrows combined to pitch a two-hitter for Waterford South and Kevin Grandieri doubled and singled and Kiernan Waldron singled and drove in a run.

Section II LL (10-11) baseball

• Adam Gibbs pitched a complete game with no walks and four strikeouts as Mystic beat Avon 11-5. Mystic (2-0) trailed 5-3 before scoring six runs in the fourth, highlighted by two-run singles by Tom Taber and Trey Adams.

Jason Kilcoyne had three hits, including two doubles, for Mystic while Tabor added threee singles, John Marcolina had a two-run homer and single, and Calvin Jacey had a double.

Section II JL (13-14) softball

• Haley Flax and Caroline Taber combined for 12 strikeouts over five innings as Mystic defeated Brooklyn-Killingly 12-0 in the opening round. Mystic plays Newington in the winners' bracket final today.

Taber also had a pair of doubles for the District 10 champs while Flax, Mackenzi Aldridge, Nalissa Amar, Taylor Kenyon, Katherine Hodgkinson and Katherine Georgetti added hits.

Junior Legion

• Niantic rallied for eight runs in the fifth inning to defeat Norwich 11-6 and qualify for the state tournament. Winning pitcher Will Butler and Tim Donahue each went 2-for-4 for Niantic (14-10) while Tom Sieczkowski went 3-for-3 to lead Norwich (14-9) and Thomas Pietruczuk added two hits.

• Ledyard-Pawcatuck finished the regular season 15-9 by defeating Montville 4-3 in eight innings. Brendan Gayowski went the distance for L-P while Ryan Francis had a single and double and Anthony Viteritto singled twice. Kyle Williams had four hits for Montville (16-7).

Schooners fall to Muskrats

• The Mystic Schooners scored three runs in the top of the first inning, but the Laconia Muskrats rallied for a 5-4 win in the New England Collegiate Baseball League. Matt O'Herron had a pair of RBI singles and Spencer Hayes had two hits for the Schooners (5-27).

Sutera baseball (11-12)

• T.J. McBride hit a three-run homer in the top of the sixth as Waterford North beat Groton 8-6 on the opening day of the 9th annual Gene Sutera Memorial tournament. Eddie Aledia pitched three innings to earn the win and Collin Bakken had two hits for Waterford. David Thompson hit a home run and Hendrick Khoury had two hits for Groton.

• Ken Turner's home run was difference in North Stonington's 1-0 win over Waterford South. Turner and Kade Walters both pitched for North Stonington and Mason Knutson struck out seven for Waterford South.

• Connor McCrea hit a three-run homer and also singled as Mystic defeated East Lyme 4-1. Tyler Peretz pitched a complete game for East Lyme and Jon Keen had an RBI double.

Sutera baseball (9-10)

• Nick Fava singled in the go-ahead run as Lyme Old-Lyme nipped Pawcatuck 4-3. Brady Sheffield pitched four innings, Tait Sawden had two hits and Kyle Signola a double for Lyme Old-Lyme. R.J. Parilla had two hits, including a double, for Pawcatuck.

• Robbie DelaCruz drove in the winning run in the bottom of the sixth as Montville defeated Groton 14-13. DelaCruz was 4-for-4 with two doubles, a triple and earned the win in relief. Owen George had two hits for Montville while Kyrell Wilson and Tyler Miller had hits for Groton.

• Luke Leonard pitched five innings as East Lyme beat Waterford North 2-0. J.R. McBride had two hits for Waterford.