East Lyme — Waterford came back out of the losers' bracket and faced a must-win situation Thursday night. Win or face the season's end.

In that case, it couldn't have asked for anything better.

Payton Sutman pitched a complete game and Waterford turned two double plays, threw out a runner at the plate and had catcher Junior McBride gun out a runner trying to steal. Waterford, trying to force a deciding game against previously unbeaten East Lyme for the District 6 Babe Ruth 14-year-old championship, won this one 11-3.

The winner of Friday's game between the same two teams will advance to the state tournament being played in Newtown beginning July 9.

"They're growing as a team," said Waterford coach Dan McBride, whose team was knocked into the losers' bracket with a 5-1 loss to East Lyme on Monday. "That's to say in a game like this, when we get ahead, is this a team that can put the foot on the pedal and keep going? They did that today. They're really growing."

Waterford scored six runs in the fifth to break a 3-3 tie, sending 10 men to the plate. After a pair of walks to start the inning, McBride hit the first pitch for an RBI single to left field. Zane Mikula was hit by a pitch and Sutman reached on an error, a play which scored two runs.

Cadin Maynard added an RBI single and Tyler Gmyr hit a towering double to left to score another run. Steve Cantres capped the rally with a sacrifice fly.

Sutman, who said he never pitched a complete game before, got even better after that, allowing just one hit in the final three innings. He pitched a 1-2-3 inning with three ground balls in the fifth, his load to bear suddenly easier with a great deal of help from his teammates.

Sutman struck out three and walked one.

"It's just what we needed. Throw strikes and let us make the plays today," Dan McBride said. "The first game against them, we really had jitters. They didn't play like themselves."

"I was more excited that I was going to get the start," said Sutman, asked if he was nervous with the tournament on the line. "It does help you to have a solid defense. It helps you relax. And definitely run support helps you. I got into a groove after that. ... Today is a big confidence-booster."

Waterford scored once in the first inning against East Lyme on an error and got a two-run double from Sonny Pezzello in the second that made it 3-0.

East Lyme scored on a sacrifice fly by Chris Abbey and a chopper back up the middle by Chris Malcom to pull within 3-2. East Lyme tied it in the fourth on back-to-back singles by T.J. Horner and Galen Donovan followed by a Waterford error.

Waterford prevented East Lyme from taking the lead, however, as Donovan was thrown out at the plate trying to score on Tristan Smith's single to left. Ben Podeszwa started the successful relay to home.

In last year's 13-year-old tournament featuring many of these same players, it was East Lyme which came out of the losers' bracket to win the district title.

"I'm hoping history repeats itself," McBride said of the one-loss team coming back to win the double-elimination tournament. "We've got to swing the bats."

v.fulkerson@theday.com