Waterford wins opener in New England Babe Ruth 13-year-old tourney

Rochester, N.H. — Waterford turned to its ace on opening day of the New England Babe Ruth 13-year-old baseball tournament and he delivered.

Jared Burrows pitched a one-hitter and struck out 10 on Saturday as the Connecticut champions defeated Keene (N.H.) 4-0.

"He was just awesome today," manager Dave Laffey said. "His fastball was working. His curveball was working. (Keene) could not handle him at all, and that's exactly what we were hoping for."

Keene's lone hit came in the fourth inning on a single by Carl Hoden.

"(Hoden) actually hit a waste pitch and just chopped it into center," Laffey said.

Waterford, meanwhile, broke a scoreless tie in the fourth when Ryan Bakken singled home Anthony Tonucci. Waterford added another run in the fifth and got some breathing room with a pair of runs in the seventh.

Ben Jerome had three runs and scored a run for Waterford while Bakken had two hits and an RBI, Matt Sanford scored a run and drove in another, Luke Sokolski had an RBI and Robert Zawacki had a hit and run.

"It's big to get that first one," said Laffey, whose team plays Cranston (R.I.) at 4 p.m. Sunday in it second pool play game. Cranston defeated St. Johnsbury (Vt.) 18-3, so Sunday's winner will put itself in a great position to advance to Wednesday's semifinals.

And Laffey said his team will have extra motivation because Cranston has a number of players from the Cranston West Little League team which ousted Waterford from the New England tournament a year ago in Bristol with a 3-2, seven-inning victory.

"They'll be ready to go," Laffey said. "They can't wait to play (Cranston) again."

“He was just awesome today. His fastball was working. His curveball was working (Keene) couldn’t handle him at all, and that’s exactly what we were hoping for.” WATERFORD BABE RUTH MANAGER DAVE LAFFEY, ON STARTING PITCHER JARED BURROWS