Fairfield National Falls In U.S. Championship Game At Little League World Series

FAIRFIELD, CT — Fairfield National Little League battled valiantly on Saturday at the Little League World Series, but the Las Vegas, Nevada was too much for the Connecticut team to handle, beating Fairfield 8-2 in the United States Championship game.

The two teams faced off in the Williamsport, Pennsylvania classic earlier in the tournament, with Fairfield winning that game 7-3.

On Saturday, Nevada scored three runs in the top of the first, and drove up Luca Pellegrini's pitch count to 34 in the opening frame.

In the bottom half of the first, the Nevada pitcher hit two Fairfield batters, before Jimmy Taxiltaridis drove in the team's first run with a single.

No runs were scored in the second and third innings, but Nevada pitcher, Garrett Gallegos, homered in the top of the fourth to push the score to 4-1.

The Mountain Region representative never trailed in the game.

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Fairfield's Tommy D'Amura hit a single in the fourth, and Jimmy Taxiltaridis drove him to third. D'Amura scored to make it 4-2, but Taxiltaridis' aggressive base running cost him, and he was tagged out at second base.

Fairfield nearly scored in the top of the fifth, but Ben Herbst got caught in a rundown while trying to score.

Nevada tacked on another run early in the sixth to make it 5-2, which ended Pellegrini's day on the mound, as he gave the ball to D'Amura to finish things off.

However, D'Amura gave up some walks and hit a batter to drive in another run to make it 6-2. Fairfield then turned to Herbst, who quickly gave up two more runs to drive the score to 8-2.

And that's how the game ended, when Pellegrini struck out for the final out.

Fairfield will play in the Third Place Consolation game against Aruba at 10 a.m. on Sunday; the game will be telecast on ESPN.

On Monday, the team will be celebrated with a parade and party, beginning at 5:30 p.m., to honor their accomplishments and successful summer.