Fairfield topples Las Vegas in semifinal

Connecticut’s Fairfield National is one step closer to a Little League World Series title.

The team advanced to the U.S. title game with a 7-3 win over the Summerlin South Little League team from Las Vegas on Wednesday, riding strong defense, clutch hitting and a gutsy pitching performance.

Fairfield fell behind early when Vegas second baseman Cache Malan slugged a three-run home run in the first inning off Fairfield pitcher SJ Taxiltaridis.

But Fairfield stormed back two innings later, tying the game in the third inning when Taxiltaridis hit a two-run single to left field after shortstop Luca Pellegrini brought home the first run with an RBI single.

From there, they held Vegas at bay with a series of big defensive plays starting in the bottom of the third.

In that inning, center fielder Dante Madera fully extended his left arm on the run toward the wall to record a flyout, and later, right fielder Ben Herbst nailed a runner at home to end the inning.

Taxiltaridis escaped another scare an inning later.

Vegas started the bottom of the fourth with two singles and loaded the bases with two outs, but the Fairfield pitcher threw a fastball past Mason Schutte for a swinging strikeout to end the threat.

With two outs in the top of the fifth inning, Pellegrini hit a bloop single to center field to bring in a run, putting Fairfield up 4-3.

In the bottom of the fifth, Fairfield flashed some more leather, turning a slick 6-4-3 double play to end the inning.

They extended the lead in the sixth inning with a Tommy D’Amura solo shot to left-center field to lead off the frame, and a two-out RBI triple off the bat of Boden Dunlap, who later scored on a passed ball, to make the score 7-3.

The Fairfield lineup got major production from the first four spots in the order — Pelligrini, Taxiltaridis, D’Amura and Jimmy Taxiltaridis — who each had two hits and combined for five RBIs.

And they didn’t look back from there.

SJ Taxiltaridis exited the game with one out in the sixth inning, nearly tossing a complete game despite pitching through multiple jams, finishing with four strikeouts and two walks while allowing seven hits and three earned runs on the day.

D’Amura relieved SJ Taxiltaridis, getting the final two outs of the ballgame.

Fairfield advances to Saturday afternoon’s U.S. title game.

They are just the third team from Connecticut to play in the U.S. LLWS final, joining Westport in 2013 and Trumbull in 1989.

Vegas plays in Thursday’s losers bracket game. The winner of that game will be the second team to play Fairfield in the U.S. title game.

If Fairfield wins that game, they’ll join Trumbull — a team headline by ex-NHLer and current Rangers GM Chris Drury — as just the second Connecticut team to play in the championship game.

The U.S. will take on the winner of the international side in the LLWS championship game Sunday.