10-Year-Old All-Stars Win District 9 Championship

Coginchaug Little League's 10-year-old all-star team beat Old Saybrook 11-3 on Thursday night at George Atwell Field in Durham to capture the District 9 championship.

With the win, the team has advanced to the state Little League tournament which begins next week.

Coginchaug took an early 4-0 lead when centerfielder T.J. Islieb smacked a 2-out, bases loaded single up the middle in the first inning to score teammates Noah Kleczkowski and Justin Penney.

Check out Patch's championship game photo gallery

Kolby Pascarelli took the mound for Coginchaug and was impressive pitching his way out an early jam.

In the second inning, with Coginchaug leading 4-1, Pacarelli gave up a lead-off single and walked the next three Old Saybrook batters to tighten the score at 4-2, with no outs and the bases loaded.

But Old Saybrook's Gabe Kaar grounded to first baseman Michael Garofalo who threw home to Penny for the inning's first out.

Garofalo then made a remarkable, over-the-fence catch in foul territory near the dugout and Pascarelli struck-out clean-up hitter Dyllon King to end the inning.

Nicholas Lipka came off the bench in the third inning to hit a 2-out triple to deep centerfield, scoring Penny and Blake Courchesne to give Coginchaug a 6-2 lead.

Coginchaug added three more runs in the fourth inning, the first coming off Evan Faiella's triple to left-center which knocked in Griffin Biro.

Pascarelli finished the game with five strikeouts.