Cal Ripken 11's Trying to Stay Alive in State Tournament

Norwalk's 11-year-old Cal Ripken All Stars cruised to a 12-3 victory over Southbury in the opening round of the state tournament last Saturday at Bethel's Mitchell Park, but dropped its second game Monday night in a 5-4 loss to highly regarded New Fairfield. Norwalk now needs to win three games in a row to advance to the finals of the double-elimination tournament and earn a possible rematch with New Fairfield.

Norwalk's top four hitters erupted for 11 hits in 16 at-bats to power Norwalk to the win over Southbury. Nico Petridis smacked two triples and a double, Kevin Woodring smashed a double and a home run, Mike Gonzales stroked two doubles and Eric van der Els had three hits.

Starting pitcher Ryan Searles tossed two scoreless innings, and relievers Woodring, Jordan Palmer and Petridis held the lead after Norwalk tallied twice in the first inning and exploded for six runs in the third inning.

Norwalk grabbed a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when van der Els doubled, Petridis tripled and Woodring singled.

In the Norwalk third, van der Els led off with a single, Petridis doubled, and Woodring's three-run-homer gave Norwalk a 5-0 lead. Gonzales kept the rally going with a double. Chris Giordano followed with an RBI single and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. Searles drove in Giordano with another single, and a Matt Galyas sacrifice fly extended the lead to 8-0.

Southbury got on the board in the bottom of the fourth inning after Norwalk pitcher Jordan Palmer walked Jon Consiglio and surrendered consecutive hits to Jake Mendencino and Brian Flood. Petridis relieved Palmer and ended the rally by getting an infield pop up and striking out two batters. Petridis yielded one run in the fifth inning, but settled down to get the last six outs of the game.

On Monday, Norwalk faced a formidable New Fairfield team, which had dominated its first two opponents in the state tournament by winning via the mercy rule.

New Fairfield scored an unearned run on an outfield error in the top of the first to grab an early 1-0 lead over Norwalk.

However, the locals quickly answered back. In the bottom of the first, Norwalk leadoff batter Eric van der Els walked, and second baseman Wady Almonte was hit by a pitch. New Fairfield pitcher Jacob Whiting fanned Norwalk's Mike Gonzales on a change-up and got cleanup batter Hunter Dumas to fly out to right field. But shortstop Chris Giordano walked to load the bases. Then Ryan Searles ripped a two-out, two-RBI single to centerfield, giving Norwalk a 2-1 lead.

Starting pitcher Mike Gonzales retired New Fairfield in order in the second inning, but in the top of the third he yielded four consecutive hits, including a double by Eamon Whelan and a triple by Randy Sarro, which enabled New Fairfield to build a 5-2 advantage going into the bottom of the third. Almonte led off the home half of the third with a double to right field, but was stranded there when Whiting was able to retire the next three batters.

Both Gonzales and Whiting held the offenses in check in the fourth inning. However, in the bottom of the fifth, van der Els smacked a double to left field. Two batters later, Gonzales crushed a changeup over the centerfield scoreboard to narrow New Fairfield's lead to 5-4.

Gonzales allowed two hits to start the sixth and final inning, but he got Whelan to line out to third baseman Hunter Dumas to end the threat.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, New Fairfield brought in hard-throwing Greg Radovic to close the game. He struck out Giordano. Ryan Searles hit another line drive to centerfield, but it was snagged by Brandon Barile, who squeezed a fly ball hit by Matt Galyas to end the game.

Gonzales went the distance for Norwalk, allowing eight hits and three earned runs, while striking out eight and walking none.