Westport Claims Connecticut Little League Title With 9-1 Win Over Coginchaug

Coginchaug’s dream season came to an end on Sunday as Westport Little League’s 12-year-old All-Star team beat the little leaguers from Durham and Middlefield 9-1 to capture the Connecticut Little League championship and earn a spot in the New England Regional tournament in Bristol.

Westport’s 1-2 pitching combination of Chad Knight and Harry Azadian proved to be too much for a Coginchaug team that dominated opponents in winning the District 9 championship and pulled out a handful of gutsy wins to take the Sectional title.

“I’m so excited for these kids to get to this point,” said Coginchaug manager Ken Vallone after Sunday's season ending loss. “Would I have liked to have won? Absolutely. But to be one of the two best teams in the state of Connecticut, that’s something to be proud of.”

Coginchaug came into the game at Recreation Park in Southington needing a win after losing to Westport 8-2 on Saturday in the opening game of the best-of-three series.

The team’s chances looked good with ace John John Jose on the mound but Westport’s Harry Azadian outdueled Jose, striking out 11 Coginchaug batters in four plus innings. Azadian also helped himself by knocking a Jose fastball out of the park in the first inning. The solo shot came after a home run by Chad Knight and gave Westport a 2-0 lead.

Coginchaug threatened in the second inning after back-to-back hits by Griffin Saks and Connor Rulnick but Azadian struck out James Salemme to end the inning.

The score was 3-0 in the bottom of the third inning when Westport’s Matt Brown hit a 2-RBI double to give his team a 5-0 edge.

Rulnick, who went 3-for-3 in the game, singled home Jose in the top of the fourth inning for Coginchaug’s only run of the game, cutting the lead to 6-1.

Chris Drbal led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a home run and Brown crushed a pitch well over the right-field fence to lead off the fifth inning to make it 9-1, Westport

“It feels great,” Westport manager Tim Rogers said after the win. “To be able to hit [Jose] like that, that kid can really pitch, so to be able to hit him around a little bit is great for the kids.”

Westport is undefeated this summer and will play South Burlington, Vermont at the A. Bartlett Giamatti Little League Leadership Training Center in Bristol on Friday at 8:15 p.m.

Rogers probably isn’t thinking beyond the game but said he likes his team’s chances to go to Williamsport.

“We start with what I would say is the hardest District in the state, so right from jump street we’re playing the best around. They’re used to it. We’ll go [to Bristol] and we’ll do what we always do, we feel comfortable with our pitching, we like the depth in our lineup,” he said.

Vallone agreed.

“That’s a very good team. They have very good pitching. Obviously they swing the bat, but I think their pitching will carry them a long way,” he said.“Hopefully they can go do Connecticut proud in the Regionals. We’ll go there and support ‘em, we’ll go watch. We’ll root ‘em on, hopefully they can make it down to Williamsport.”

“It’s nice to be the home team,” said Rogers.

As for the kids from Durham and Middlefield, their accomplishment might take some time to set in.

“It really hasn’t sunk in yet, that it’s really over. They feel that they’ve done something that no one in our area’s done before,” Vallone said.

“If they all stick together, they should be a phenomenal team in high school. They’ve been playing together since they were nine and it shows.”