Neil Sullivan had a double, triple and drove in five runs as the Simsbury U11 Little League baseball team beat Stamford National, 10-7, Sunday at Scalzi Park in Stamford to earn a spot in the state tournament championship game.
Simsbury (11-2) advances to the U11 tournament final against undefeated South Windsor (9-0) on Monday at 7 p.m. at Scalzi Park. Simsbury needs to win on Monday night and beat South Windsor on Tuesday to take the double-elimination tournament and advance to the Eastern Regional tournament.
Simsbury is back in the U11 (age 9-11) finals for the first time since 2019 with South Windsor looking for their first U11 state championship.
Simsbury took command from the start, scoring five runs in the first inning and putting seven runs into the books before Stamford National could respond. When the home team scored five runs in the fourth inning to cut the lead to two, Simsbury responded with another three runs to extend their lead to five runs.
Sullivan had a two-run double in the first inning to put Simsbury on the board. Aaron Espinoza also had a RBI double in the first inning to give Simsbury a 5-0 lead. In the third inning, a RBI double from Ben Vincent increased the lead to 6-0. In the fourth inning, Espinoza scored on a wild pitch to give Simsbury a 7-0 lead.
In the top of the fifth inning, Sullivan had a three-run triple left field to give Simsbury a 10-5 advantage.
Espinoza was 2-for-3 with one RBI while Jackson Kosay, Luke Hansen, Luke Lefebvre, Mason Dalene and Aidan Brower also had hits for Simsbury. Hansen pitched 3.1 innings to earn the win.
Simsbury 10, Stamford Nationals 7
At Stamford
Simsbury (11-2) 501 130 — 10-10-3
Stamford National 000 520 — 7-10-3
Luke Hansen, Quinn Leonard (4) and Mason Dalene; Ben R., Liam G (2) and unknown; WP: Hansen; LP: Ben R; 2B: Neil Sullivan (S), Ben Vincent (S), Aaron Espinoza (S)
Little League U11 state tournament
Final Four
At Stamford (Scalzi Park)
Friday, July 21
Simsbury 8, Stamford National 5
South Windsor 6, Madison 5
Saturday, July 22
Stamford National 2, Madison 1
South Windsor 3, Simsbury 0
Sunday, July 23
Simsbury 10, Stamford National 7
Monday, July 24
Game 6: Final – South Windsor vs. Simsbury, 7 p.m.
Tuesday, July 25
Game 7: Final – South Windsor vs. Simsbury, 7 p.m., 7 p.m., if necessary
