By James Lomuscio
By the end of the second inning today, Westport’s Little League team seemed to have already crushed Sammamish, Wash., the Northwest team, taking a 9 to 0 lead in the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa.
Westport fans cheer outside the Black Duck Cafe today after the Westport Little League victory. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Helen Klisser During for WestportNow.com
The only question for the hundreds who had gathered at the Black Duck, the iconic waterfront bar and eatery that was filled with cheers and chants of “Let’s go Westport, let’s go,” was just how high a score the town’s boys of summer could rack up.
Buck Iannocone, however, a Westport Little Leaguer himself four decades ago, took a more realistic view as he watched one of the Black Duck’s TV screens. He spoke about the Little League mercy rule, whereby the game would end if one team were ahead 10 runs by the fourth inning.
“If you’re already ahead by 10 in fourth inning, the game’s over,” Iannocone said. “But then again, anything can happen.
“This is baseball,” he added. “Each inning is a new game.”
And that’s how the game played out with Washington, keeping Westporters on edge until the end of the sixth when Westport again emerged victorious by a 9 to 7 score.
“I think it’s good to be tested,” said Jim Marpe, the Republican candidate for first selectman who had gathered with several members of his party at the Black Duck. “You need to be tested, and they stood up to the test.”
The game began to change in the third inning when Washington jumped up a point. State Rep. Gail Lavielle still clung to the idea of the mercy rule working in Westport’s favor.
“Only two more runs and we’re done,” she said.
But it didn’t take long before the scores changed: 9 to 3, 9 to 5, 9 to 6 and a nerve wracking 9 to 7 in the fifth inning.
“Oh, no,” said Westporter Judith Freedman, a Republican and former state senator.
From the first inning until now, Freedman was nothing but bullish on the prospect of a victory.
“I love baseball, and this is a thrill,” she said. “I’ve gotten a lot of other people interested in this game, even people in California. This is putting us on the map.”
But now it had reached the nail biting stage, and as fans began to cringe in the fifth, one man shouted out, “They’re still ahead.”
“This is Little league, not the Mets,” he said.
Then the chanting began.
“Let’s go, Westport,” they chanted and clapped. “Let’s go, Westport.”
Freedman laughed that they were chanting as if the team could hear them.
Maybe they could.
“This is it,” said Dewey Loselle, a member of the Representative Town Meeting, at the bottom of the sixth and Washington with two outs.
Loselle noted that the pitcher, Alex Reiner, had been one of his wife’s students.
It did not take long before the Washington batter struck out, and a thunderous, joyous roar accompanied by the sounds of party horns filled the room.
Many there vowed to be back on Wednesday at 8 p.m. when Westport, still undefeated, will face West champion Chula Vista, Calif.
