Shelton forces decisive final game

TRUMBULL — The shiny nickel flew over the chain-link fence to Shelton manager Larry Judge, who was the last man in from the right-field postgame huddle.

A few minutes later, pitcher Jonathan Wood wanted it back. Pitching a five-hitter with 10 strikeouts, he’d certainly been a fine nickel in his team’s stack on Sunday, not the proverbial bent nickel that could’ve ended its season.

Shelton forced a winnertake-all game for the state Little League championship with a 5-3 win Sunday at Unity Park over East Lyme. The winner of Monday’s game at 6 p.m. advances to the Metro Regional at Bristol.

“I’ve wanted to go to Bristol ever since 10U,” Wood said, “when we lost to Westport. Now that we’re here, we have a big chance.”

Wood retired six in a row after East Lyme took a lead without a hit in the top of the fourth. Shelton came back with two runs in the bottom of the inning and three more in the fifth.

“It’s all about the nickel,” Judge said.

The idea came from legendary LSU coach Skip Bertman: A stack of 25 nickels, one for each player on a team, is sturdy. If one nickel gets bent out of shape, maybe the stack can carry it awhile, but it can’t be a foundation.

“These kids buy in every game. They’re awesome,” Judge said. “It wasn’t like that when we first got together. It is now. I love these guys. Everybody’s doing it for each other.

“We’re one game away. We were backs against the wall against Monroe in districts. Again last night. Today. We’re just gonna go out and do our thing. I’m a very proud coach.”

East Lyme had won its first two games in the four-team state tournament so could have wrapped up its first state title with a Sunday win. That will have to wait a day, but East Lyme manager Andrew Cellemme says he’s got a tough group.

“Their kid pitched a great game against us, so tip your cap to him,” East Lyme manager Andrew Cellemme said. “I don’t think it’s that we made mistakes, they just beat us. We earned that right all year long to have two cracks at it, so we’ll come back tomorrow night and see what happens.”

Monday night’s winner will play New Jersey’s state champion to open the double-elimination Metro Regional in Bristol on Saturday at 4 p.m. (ESPN+).