It began as a pitchers' duel on Wednesday - both the Fairfield Ludlowe High School Falcons and the Warde Mustangs scoreless through three innings.
Warde's second baseman Kenzie Burns contributed to the early success of pitcher Gabriella Natoli with two clutch catches -- one in the second inning and a diving catch during the third.
Things got going for the Falcons in the fourth inning, when left fielder Nikki Tygesen hit a double that was dropped in the outfield, bringing in a run.
After the second out of the inning, catcher Katie DeCarlo singled to bring in the team's second run.
The Falcons busted open the game in the five-run fifth inning. Shortstop Emily Nelson hit an RBI single, followed by third baseman Brenna Martini's ground-rule triple that added another three runs.
Alice Nelson, the Falcons' second baseman, wrapped up the inning with an RBI single.
Meanwhile Ludlowe pitcher Aliza Guerrero held Warde to just four hits and no runs.
"She's calm, cool, and collected," Ludlowe coach Tony Samuelian said of Guerrero. "She's a class act. She knows what she has to do."
He said the team had a "great performance" Wednesday.
"We can field, we didn't make any errors, if we make the plays we're good," Samuelian said.
He added that he gives a lot of credit to the Mustangs. "They kept themselves in the game for four innings."
Warde coach Gary Quiricone made a similar statement.
"We were right with them, inning by inning, through the middle of the game. We hit the ball hard," he said, but the team didn't "push the runs across the plate."
With this loss, Warde's record is 5-8. Ludlowe improved to 10-2.
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