Trumbull – Certain laments are tethered to losing any culmination game. But the concept of lost opportunity – in this case hitting 1-for-20 with runners on base and leaving 14 aboard (in seven innings) makes the wouldas, couldas and shouldas even more resounding in the offseason.

This is what befell Connecticut state champion Waterford, whose bid to reach the Babe Ruth 13-year-old World Series ended Wednesday in the New England regional final, a 6-0 loss to Pittsfield, Mass.

Waterford, trailing 2-0 into the seventh, left one runner on in the first, two apiece in the second and third, one in the fourth, the bases loaded in the fifth and six and two in the seventh.

“It’s been a theme for us all season,” Waterford coach Lucas Beaney said. “We work a lot on situational hitting, but we just didn't do it today. We didn't really do it all tournament long. We had a lot of low scoring games and we probably left 10-plus on every game of the entire tournament. We told them if we keep doing this, it's going to come back to bite us and it came back to bite us against a better offensive team.”

Waterford was unable to solve Pittsfield pitchers Cam Hillard and Connor Paronto, who combined for nine strikeouts – seven looking.

“In batting practice, we’ll do a drill where it’s 2-0 and swing at a pitch you can drive or it’s 0-2 and protect,” Beaney said. “It just didn't translate today.”

Christian Barry tripled home a run and later scored in the third, giving Pittsfield a 2-0 lead and all the runs it would need. Waterford starter Zac Troland allowed one earned run and five hits in four innings. Pittsfield scored four runs with two outs in the top of the seventh.

Pittsfield is off to Glen Allen, Va. for the World Series.

“It was great season,” Beaney said. “I certainly didn’t think we'd be here after the first practice in April. They improved a lot and worked as hard or harder than any team I've ever had. So for them to be here is great. Their best baseball is in front of them, so hopefully they learn from this. Get better and now they're more prepared going forward for this type of situation.”

It was another solid summer for Waterford, whose 14-year-old team made the Babe Ruth state championship game and whose 15-year-old team made the New England Regional semifinals.

“Our program is strong,” said Beaney, also the president of the league. “We pride ourselves on Waterford kids playing Waterford baseball. We can compete with anyone and I think we saw that today. Pittsfield is a very good team and we were right there with them. If we got two or three more hits, we may be up for two in the last inning and instead of down two.”

m.dimauro@theday.com