Bristol — Waterford found itself in an unfamiliar and uncomfortable position Tuesday night.

For the first time in the Eastern Regional Little League 11-12-year old softball tournament, Waterford stared at a deficit.

A 4-0 deficit.

It proved to be too much to overcome against Delaware state champion Newark in the winners' bracket final at the A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center.

With a 6-2 loss, Waterford into the losers' bracket final where it will face either Monroe (N.Y.) or Morrisville (Pa.) at 4 p.m. Wednesday. Delaware (4-0) advanced to Thursday's championship round at noon.

It was long day for Waterford, which played at 10 a.m. and beat Robbinsville (N.J.), 6-2, and then waited around to play at 8 p.m.

Delaware looked like the sharper team, taking advantage of sloppy first inning by Waterford, which hurt its cause with an error, two wild pitches and two walks, to jump out to a 3-0 lead.

"Pre-game, we had some emotion in the dugout going on," Waterford manager Becky Hall said. "We've been here for several days and it's a little bit of stress weighing on the girls a little bit. We had a lot of time. We played a doubleheader today, which is challenging to begin with."

Up until Tuesday night, Waterford had been undefeated in tournament play this summer, going 12-0 dating back to District 10 play.

"Some of the girls were really upset tonight because we haven't dealt with a loss, and that's good," Hall said. "It makes you hungry for more."

Delaware never let Waterford back into the game.

Waterford mustered just four singles — two by Milly Walker and one each by Anna Bonelli and Emma Marelli — against winning pitcher Brooklyn Richardson, who went the distance. Walker, who allowed four runs in four innings, took the loss.

"The pitcher was definitely good," Hall said. "She was hitting spots and working in and out. She had some good speed. People were trying to do too much at once."

Waterford outscored its first three opponents 31-2 in the regional.

It was a different story against Delaware.

After falling behind in the third, Waterford chipped away at the deficit.

Ava Roach reached on an error to lead off the third and went to second on Bonelli's single. Both runners moved up on a wild pitch, bringing up Marelli.

Marelli hit a ground ball to first but reached safely by avoiding the tag and a run scored. Bonelli was thrown out at home trying to score from second on the play.

Waterford sliced the gap to 4-2 in the fourth. Walker drew a leadoff walk and eventually scored on pinch-hitter Kate Lange's groundout.

Delaware added to its lead by scoring two runs off reliever Maddie Burrows in the top of the sixth.

Walker singled with two outs in the sixth to give Waterford some life, but the game ended when Richardson ended the game with a strikeout.

"We knew this team was going to be challenging," Hall said. "We talked to the girls that this would be the team that we'd have our best competition with. They're very similar to us in ability. But they seemed like they were a lot better team tonight than us."

Waterford is eager to return to the diamond, but will take advantage of the rest while waiting to play late Wednesday afternoon (the Morrisville-Monroe game starts at 1 p.m.).

"We don't have to get up at the crack of dawn and get right out the gate," Hall said. "It's a good time to process stuff and let things go from today and start brand new tomorrow."

In the 6-2 win over New Jersey, Burrows, the winning pitcher, drove in a run with a sacrifice fly while Walker chipped in two hits and Bonelli deliever the key hit, a bases-clearing double in the second that gave Waterford a 4-0 lead.

g.keefe@theday.com