Berlin Little League 11s Advance To State Sectionals Championship Round

The Berlin 11-year old all-stars beat Wilton in an elimination game of the State Sectionals, 7-6.

With the win, the locals advanced to the championship round of the State Sectionals. Berlin will need to beat Fairfield American twice to win the sectional and move on to the state championship. Berlin will play Fairfield Tuesday night and a win put them in a championship game Wednesday. Both games are scheduled for 7 p.m. 

Kevin Dunn started on the mound and went four strong innings. Giancarlo Tufano, Jeff Kuzoian and Alex Halkias split the last two innings up. 

Halkias led off the game with a home run in his first at bat. 

Berlin got run producing hits from Tyler Lappe, Tommy Hyjek and Dunn. Zach Murray went 3-for-3 and Dan Veleas added two hits. 

The defense was led by a crazy over the shoulder catch by Giancarlo Tufano, Tim Heinke, Veleas and Murray.

"We just have to take it one game at a time and that's what we have been doing since the tournament started," said Lenny Tubbs, whose team is now 6-0 in elimination games in district and sectional games. "Once we lost to Southington people didn't think we would come back but we did. Then once we lost to Fairfield people said we were done again. But, I've said it all along that when this team plays its game they are tough."

So what will Berlin work in to prepare for Fairfield, who beat Berlin the first time they played 13-3.

"The fundamentals, that's it," Tubbs said. "The kids have worked hard and know how to execute the basics of baseball. They know how to play and we will tell them they don't need to do anything fancy to beat Fairfield.

"When we walked off the field after losing to Fairfield, their coach told us that they would probably see us in the finals. It was nice to hear from them. They knew we had a good team and that game was a lot closer than the final score. We'll show up to play and see what happens."