Fairfield County United Wins 8U Hardball At The Harbor Tournament

While most 8 and 9 year old boys spent Labor Day and the week leading up to it at the beach or preparing for the unprecedented start to school, a gritty and determined group of Fairfield National Little League baseball players were busy getting ready for a machine pitch tournament featuring 11 teams from Southwest Connecticut.

Michael Lombardi, founder and coach of the Fairfield County United Travel Baseball Program, assembled 13 Fairfield boys, all of whom play for Fairfield National Little League and ranging in age from 8 to 9, to compete in the unique tournament, which took place at Milford’s Bernard and Francis fields, located on the water near downtown Milford, CT. Typically, 8 and 9 year old boys, with some exceptions, have a challenging period in their baseball development as they transition from coach pitch to kid pitch. Often when kids are learning to pitch for the first time, their control is erratic, which can lead to excessive walks, long games and can result in a lack of confident at-bats for kids, which is critical to their success as baseball players.

“I invited thirteen boys to play with us at this tournament (assuming we would settle on a roster of eleven or twelve players),” said Coach Lombardi. “To my absolute delight, ALL thirteen families confirmed their participation immediately and we were set with a dynamite squad to compete Labor Day Weekend. As we practiced as a team in preparation for the tournament, we talked a lot about playing great defense, keeping the ball in front of us at all times, and collecting outs as efficiently as possible. I knew we would hit – and we did – outscoring our opponents 67-9, but I was most proud of the way we took care of the baseball across our seven wins.”

The 8U Hardball at the Harbor Tournament removed the possibility of erratic pitching by utilizing a pitching machine, thereby allowing the kids to focus on hitting and playing excellent defense. In the Milford tournament, there were 4 days of pool play amongst two divisions, American and National, where the machine was set to throw pitches at speeds of roughly 34 MPH. After pool play, the top 4 teams in each division went into a single elimination bracket, with one team being crowned the champion on Monday evening. Notably, the pitching machine was ratcheted up to 38 MPH during the elimination phase of the tournament.

Fairfield County United came out hot in pool play, outscoring Easton, New Canaan, Norwalk and Stamford by a margin of 59-5, for a perfect record of 4-0, earning them the #1 seed in bracket play. Fairfield compiled 83 hits over these 4 pool play games, while aggressively running the bases and playing stellar defense.

In the first game of bracket play, the increased pitching speeds combined with the nerves of elimination led to a sluggish start as Fairfield squared off with a scrappy group of kids from the Bethel 7U team. Fairfield struck first, scoring a run in the 4th courtesy of Kyle Gryga’s hot bat, which plated Landon Howard. Fairfield widened their lead on a 2-out, 2 RBI line drive single by Finn O’Connor in the bottom half of the 5th inning, scoring Declan Gilbert and RJ Bombara. Chase Eller and MJ Lombardi added RBIs in the contest to put the game out of reach. Fairfield’s defense was solid throughout thanks to an impenetrable defense of Andrew Magner and Hale Golec behind the plate, Landon Howard at third, Chase Eller at Shortstop, Declan Gilbert and Hunter Cole at second, with MJ Lombardi scooping everything at first base. Fairfield also got solid outfield play from Luca Papa, Colin Huynh, Kyle Gryga, and Carter Heredia. RJ Bombara and Finn O’Connor split time between the pitchers mound and the outfield.

In the semifinals of bracket play, Fairfield faced a tenacious team from Stamford, who only the day before they beat by way of mercy rule, 16-2. With the stakes higher in this matchup, the game was close from first pitch. Andrew Magner and Declan Gilbert each had RBIs early on to put Fairfield ahead 2-1. After Stamford scored 3 in their half of the 3rd inning, Fairfield got two big runs, courtesy of Colin Huynh and Luca Pappa to tie the game at 4 in the bottom of the 4th inning. In extra innings, Finn O’Connor sent Fairfield to the Championship game with a 2-out, walk-off single that scored Hunter Cole in the bottom of the 7th.

The championship game featured the only 2 remaining unbeaten teams in the tournament – Fairfield and Bethel. Finn O’Connor got the scoring started for Fairfield, ripping a line drive off the chest of Coach Lombardi, who was operating the pitching machine. Finn came around to score from 1st base on a monster triple by Kyle Gryga that one-hopped the fence, more than 200 feet away. MJ Lombardi followed up with a single to score the second run and was driven in by Luca Pappa later in the inning to put FCU up 3-0. That was all the offense Fairfield needed as their defense was perfect, getting 1-2-3 innings in the 1st, 2nd and 5th innings. With Bethel threatening in the 6th inning, Fairfield’s defense came through again with Colin Huynh recording an outfield assist to Declan Gilbert at second base, for a force out to end the game. With the tournament over and trophies in hand, the only thing remaining for Fairfield was the obligatory “Gatorade Celebration,” whereby the Fairfield players doused Coach Lombardi with whatever liquids remained in their jugs. It was a fantastic end to a great tournament, one that these Fairfield youths will not soon forget.

Game MVPs:

Game 1 – Landon Howard

Game 2 – Colin Huynh

Game 3 – Luca Pappa

Game 4 – MJ Lombardi

Game 5 – Finn O’Connor

Game 6 – Fairfield County United

Game 7 – Kyle Gryga

Individual Highlights: