Trumbull takes East Lyme the distance in state title round

Will play winner-take-all game for state Babe Ruth 15-year-old crown today

— Disappointment?

East Lyme Sure.

A victory meant a state championship Friday night. But if nothing else, there was solace for East Lyme in at least one thing: There's still a game Saturday night.

And it's for the Babe Ruth 15-yearold state title. East Lyme could have clinched with a win over Trumbull under the lights of the high school field, but fell 2-1, setting up Saturday's winnertake-all title game at 5:30 at Veterans Field.

Doyle Connolly, the losing pitcher, still finished with quite the week. In two starts against Trumbull, he allowed three runs in 13 innings. Trumbull scored single runs off him Friday, both with two-out hits, in the first and second innings. Connolly allowed four hits thereafter.

"He pitched great," East Lyme coach Chris Holloway said. "Really battled. He did all week."

East Lyme would regret its top of the first inning, one that began with promise and ended with one run. The

first three hitters of the game — Eddie Kaftan, Liam Holloway and Griffin Powers — all reached, giving the defending state 14 champs the bases loaded and nobody out.

Tommy Mason drove home a run with a ground ball, but winning pitcher Jake Teixeira retired the next two hitters to escape cheaply enough.

"You need to have a short memory," Chris Holloway said of the disappointing end to the inning. "I never worry about that stuff. Just keep going forward."

East Lyme put two runners aboard in the fourth and sixth but couldn't score, although first baseman Jake Schelkly hit a fly ball to the right field fence (in the fourth), that would have been long gone at many other fields in the region.

Powers reached base three times (two hits) for East Lyme, which had three hits off Teixeira.

Connolly struck out one and walked three.

He also benefitted from two double plays turned by the middle infield of Holloway and Kaftan.

"Same approach (today) as (Friday)," Chris Holloway said. "Focus on every at bat, every pitch. Hey, we're one of two teams left playing in the whole state. That's not a bad thing." m.dimauro@theday.com

TIM COOK/THE DAY East Lyme’s Liam Holloway tags out Trumbull’s Stephen Ioli short of second base during the the second inning of Friday night’s Connecticut Babe Ruth 15-year-old championship round game. Trumbull beat East Lyme 2-1 to force a winner-take-all final on...

TIM COOK/THE DAY East Lyme’s Griffin Powers looks back at the throw to first by Trumbull’s Stephen Ioli after Powers was forced out at second during the fourth inning of Friday night’s Babe Ruth 15-year-old state championship round game. Trumbull won 2-1 to force a...