Local roundup: Waterford advances to Babe Ruth 13 title game
Norwalk - Noah Speller pitched a four-hitter as Waterford beat East Lyme 4-2 in a semifinal at the Connecticut Babe Ruth baseball (age 13) state tournament Saturday.
Waterford will play Pomperaug for the title today at Brien McMahon High School, beginning at 1 p.m. East Lyme was the District 6 champion, beating Waterford 6-2 in the final on July 3. Waterford was one of two at-large teams added by the state committee to fill out the bracket.
Drew Rocchetti had a run-scoring double and Max Adams doubled and scored a run for Waterford. Matt Malcom singled and had a RBI double for East Lyme.
Connecticut Babe Ruth (15)
• Bryan Aguilera pitched a three-hitter with six strikeouts as Danbury beat East Lyme, 10-1, in the state tournament at Waterford.
• Alex Petchark had three hits, including a double and two RBI and Jake Gannon allowed just three hits and struck out six as Waterford beat Shoreline on Friday, 14-4. Cole Crawford had two hits and three RBI for Waterford and Chase Speller added two hits, including a double, for Waterford.
NECBL
• Chris DelDebbio (Hartford) hit a walk-off two-run double with no outs in the bottom of the ninth inning as the Danbury Westerners beat the Mystic Schooners, 2-1.
Logan Pearson (Missouri) singled to start the Danbury ninth and advanced to second when starter Nolan Long of Waterford (Wagner) hit Aaron Huesman (Dayton) with a pitch.
A.J. Ryan (Dayton) reached safely on an error by reliever Jacob Hendren (Heartland CC) to load the bases. DelDebbio came on to pinch hit and delivered for Danbury (9-26).
Nick Ruppert (Dartmouth) doubled with two outs in the top of the ninth to score Zachary Weigel (Seton Hall) for Mystic (16-13). Long scattered four hits over eight innings with 10 strikeouts and no walks.
Sutera tournament (11-12)
• Robbie Petriel hit a solo home run and Joey Hinckley doubled as Pawcatuck beat East Lyme 2 -0 on the opening day of the Gene Sutera Baseball Tournament at Waterford. Bowen Baker struck out seven for the win and R.J. Parrilla earned the save.
• Montville scored in the sixth inning to break a 5-5 tie and beat Lyme-Old Lyme 6-5. Nick Gallivan homered and Ryan Champagne had a double for Montville. Parker Stone homered for Lyme-Old Lyme.
• Alec Elmer hit a walk-off home run as East Lyme beat Waterford 11-8. Issaac Mateo had three hits, including a game-tying solo homer, Elmer had four hits and Dylan McDonald doubled for East Lyme.
• Noah Bautista hit a grand slam to lead Groton to a 7-2 win over Mystic. Kyle Egan had two hits for Groton and Sam Davis and Johnathon Cooper had two hits each for Mystic.
• R.J. Parrilla struck out seven and Robbie Petriel homered as Pawcatuck beat New London 4-1. Robert Otanez homered for New London.
Sutera tournament (9-10)
• Rowan Mundell drove in two runs as East Lyme beat Lyme-Old Lyme 13-3. Nathan Licitra was the winning pitcher.
• Brian Wielanchowski had three hits as Waterford beat Lyme-Old Lyme 7-6. Waterford's Anthony Sandora struck out six.
• Kenny Miller struck out 12 with one walk as New London beat Montville 13-6. Miller had three hits and Rhodia Perry had two hits for New London. Andrew Benoit had two hits for Montville.
• Waterford scored seven runs in the fifth inning and went on to beat Groton 8-2. Anthony Sandora had two hits for Waterford and Ramiro Zavala of Groton struck out nine batters.
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