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Luca Pellegrini was nearly perfect on mound against Texas

By Chris Masse 4 min read

Luca Pellegrini long dreamed about pitching at Lamade Stadium. The reality outweighed the fantasy and the Fairfield, Connecticut pitcher quickly described the setting he encountered Wednesday night pitching against Richmond, Texas.

"It felt great," Pellegrini said. "The crowd was on fire."

So was Pellegrini.

With little room for error, Pellegrini was nearly perfect. Locked in a classic pitching duel against Shane Grawe, Pellegrini made his Little League World Series debut a memorable one, throwing a dazzling one-hit shutout and leading Fairfield to a dramatic 1-0 win.

Pellegrini built on his summer-long dominance and stifled a powerful offense, taking a perfect game into the fourth inning, striking out 11 and stranding the winning runs on the corner in the bottom of the sixth inning. He helped Fairfield join an exclusive club as it became the first Connecticut team since 1965 to win a 1-0 game at the Series.

"He’s an absolute gamer. He’s ready for the ball every time he’s called. There’s nobody else we want on the mound other than LP," Fairfield manager Brian Palazzolo said. "We have 5-6 quality pitchers, but when he’s on the mound our defense is settled. We’re ready to play every time. We have his back."

Pellegrini had his teammates backs as well. The hard-throwing right-hander repeatedly pumped fastballs in the low 70-mile per range past Texas hitters and matched Grawe who also proved overpowering, allowing just one run and two hits, while striking out 11 in five brilliant innings.

For a while the game resembled a memorable 2002 Series contest when world champion Kentucky ace Aaron Alvey and Texas left-hander Walker Kelley did not allow hits in nine spectacular innings. Pellegrini and Grawe both took no-hitters into the fourth inning, but Pellegrini took advantage when Ben Herbst hit a fourth inning RBI single and would not let his team lose.

"I was just trying to hit my zone; hit that outside pitch," Pellegrini said.

He did just that early and often. Texas has hit fastballs well throughout the summer, but Pellegrini had closer-like velocity for six innings, seemingly growing stronger as the game progressed. This was not a pitcher trying to out-think hitters.

This was a pitcher who knew that Texas knew what was coming and did not care. Like he did against a powerful New York team in the Metro Region championship, Pellegrini proved just about untouchable.

"His strike percentage was through the roof," Texas manager Justin Pollard said. "There wasn’t a lot of off-speed. It was straight up beating us with a lot of fastballs. Typically, that’s an area we can do a lot better on."

Pellegrini, though, isn’t the typical pitcher. He has developed into one of the country’s best this summer and helped Connecticut capture a third straight state championship. And he has seemingly gone into overdrive since regionals started.

At Bristol, Pellegrini overpowered both New Jersey and New York, going 1-0 and allowing just two hits in nine innings. Add in his Series opener and Pellegrini now is 2-0 with a microscopic ERA, three consecutive one hitters and 26 strikeouts in 15 innings.

Pellegrini started and finished his Series debut strong, fanning the side in the first inning and producing his 11th strikeout to leave the winning runs on the corners. He retired the first nine batters he faced before allowing a Lucas Sontag lead-off double in the fourth inning.

All that did was make rile up an already motivated pitcher. And Pellegrini took out his frustration on Texas. Facing the heart of the order, Pellegrini struck out the next three hitters and preserved the 1-0 lead.

"He just got right back to work," Palazzolo said. "He didn’t let it faze him and the rest of the team had his back. He was strong."

"When they got that first hit I got angry," Pellegrini said. "I just dialed in and hit my spots in the zone."

For six innings, Pellegrini was in the zone and turned a long-held dream into reality.

Starting at /week.