Fairfield 13s Fall To Norwalk 10-0 In District One Babe Ruth Final

There wasn't really anything at stake in Thursday's District One 13-year-old Babe Ruth championship game between Fairfield and Norwalk at Bunnell.

Still, Fairfield would have liked to put up a better fight, as it managed just two hits off Norwalk ace Dan Romanello in a 10-0 loss.

In the last two days, Norwalk outscored Fairfield 32-2. On Wednesday, Norwalk posted a 22-2 victory force Thursday's winner-take-all-game.

As the runner-up, however, Fairfield still will represent the district in the state tournament, which begins July 15 at Ridgefield.

Norwalk is not entered in the states because it is hosting the New England Regionals, wich begin July 30 at McMahon High School.

Norwalk actually lost the first game of the districts to Trumbull 6-4 in nine innings, but that defeat served as a wakeup call. In the following four games, the team scored 62 runs.

Matt Diurno, Christian Lengyel and Jessie Rodriguez each drove in two runs for Norwalk on Thursday while Corey Hayes was the only Norwalk player with two hits.

Norwalk jumped on top 2-0 in the bottom of the first, scoring runs on a wild pitch and D.J. Iborrondo's infield single.

Norwalk broke it open with five runs in the second on just three hits. The big hit in the inning was Lengyel's two-run single with the bases loaded.

Diurno's groundout produced on a run in the fourth before Edwin Owolo's sacrifice made it 10-0 in the fourth.

Romanello was dominant on the mound, only allowing a double to Fairfield starting pitcher Brendan Beiser in the third and a bad-hop single to Emil Friis in the fifth. He struck out eight and walked three.

"Thursday's win gave Norwalk two district titles in as many days and both came against Fairfield. The 14s defeated Fairfield 3-2 on Wednesday at McMahon.