Norwalk Defeats Trumbull 9-3 To Advance To 14-Year-old District One Babe Ruth Final

Alex Scallion tossed a complete-game six-hitter Saturday as Norwalk defeated Trumbull 9-3 at Fairfield's Tunxis Hill Field to advance to the finals of the 14-year-old District One Babe Ruth tournament.

Norwalk will play in the championship on Tuesday at McMahon High School (5:30 p.m.) against the team that comes out of the loser's bracket.

"It really helps when you have a (good) pitcher on the mound," Norwalk coach Tim Hefferan said. "He was just jamming the strike zone all day. We made the plays behind him.

"Defense wins championships. We're trying to win the championship. Offense might wins games here and there, but we know defense will take you further, so we're trying to win the championship."

Scallion blanked Trumbull after giving up an RBI single to Colby Trask in the first inning and a two-run double to Connor Broderick in the second.

Scallion got stronger as the game went on, holding Trumbull hitless over the final four innings. The only runners he allowed came on a walk in the fifth and a wild pitch after a strikeout in the seventh. Scallion only had one strikeout but issued just two walks.

"I had a feeling I was going to pitch today and before the game I felt really good," he said. "I feel like I had to do this for my team. About a year ago, I pitched against the same kids and we shut them down. I glad we did this today and now we move onto the championship."

Scallion, who didn't find out for sure that he was going to pitch until just before Saturday's game, gave up two hits in each of the first three frames.

After Trumbull grabbed the lead in the top of the first, Norwalk answered with three runs in the botton half take a 3-1 advantage. It then took the lead for good on Chris Cataling's RBI single that made it 4-3 in the third.

Hefferan was pleased with the way his team swung the bats, especially out of the gate.

"We came out early," he said. "That's what we've been trying to push, come out and hit the ball early, which we're doing."

Norwalk began to break it open in the middle innings, adding three runs in the fourth on Trey Newcomb's RBI  double, Ryan Evans' sacrifice fly and Scallion's RBI single.

Leadoff hitter Matt Downey capped the scoring with a two-run double in the fifth. Meanwhile, Scallion was on cruise control after the fourth inning.

"I wasn't hitting my locations that well (early)," Scallion said. "Heff told me to hit locations better and then I settled down and I did what I had to do."

"He's a slender kid," Hefferan added. "His arm can get a little tired, especially on a hot day. We had different guys warming up and we never needed to go to them. It seemed like he got better."

Downey and Newcomb each had three hits to pace Norwalk's 10-hit attack while Cataling added two hits. Downey, Evans and Scallion each drove in two runs.

The only negative for Norwalk is that it did have some issues running the bases. Hefferan promised that would be  something the team would work on before Tuesday's game.

"I'm not overly-thrilled with our baserunning," Hefferan said. "We'll be working on that this weekend. We're going to be working on lighting off firecrackers and tagging up and when to run to third base.

"If we want to have a good, long summer, we've got to run the bases a little better, but I can't complain about that right now. They're swinging the bats and we're getting very good pitching."