Westport Clinches No. 1 Seed in New England Regional Semifinals

The Westport Little League team was down by one in the top of third. By the end of the bottom of the third, they were up Newton South East by seven.

Being down 3-2 in the last game of pool play in the New England Regional Tournament was apparently all the motivation Westport needed to rip the game wide open.

The eight-run third inning for Westport started off with a walk from Harry Azadian. Charlie Roof singled to drive in the first run to tie Westport 3-3 with the Massachusetts team.

A triple from Ricky Offenberg drove in two more runs, followed by two-run homer from Matthew Brown. Then, Azadian hit a three-run homerun, bringing the score to 10-3.

Pitching-wise, Max Popken pitched two-thirds of an inning, allowing two runs and striking out one. Roof came in to pitch two and a third innings, allowing one run and striking out three. Alex Reiner then took over and allowed one run but struck out five; followed by a last-out effort from Chad Knight, who struck out Newton South East's last batter to end the game.

With this win, Westport clinched the No. 1 seed in the New England Regional semifinals. They'll play No. 4 seed Saco, Maine at 1 p.m. Thursday. Westport defeated Maine in pool play on Sunday.