New Jersey's Holbrook Little League simply had no answer for Ethan Righter -- or New England's bats.
Six days after Righter, the hard-throwing right hander for New England's Fairfield American Little League of Fairfield, Conn. handed New Jersey its first loss at the Little League in Williamsport, Pa., he put together a nearly flawless outing to end New Jersey's decorated run at the Little League World Series in a 12-2 win at Lamade Stadium Wednesday morning.
With the loss, New Jersey is eliminated from the losers' bracket and concludes its stay at the Little League World Series at 2-2, with both losses coming against Righter and New England.
Similar to the first meeting, Righter was dominant on the hill: he struck out eight batters over 4 2/3 innings and allowed just two runs on three hits. He threw the maximum 88 pitches.
New England jumped all over New Jersey starter Dean Daddio - a late addition to the lineup after Tai Mann scratched just before the start - in the first inning. Back-to-back singles paved the way for Matthew Vivona to smoke a 2-RBI double down the left field line in the bottom of the first inning.
Vivona scored later that inning on a fielder's choice to put New England up 3-0 before Andrew Cutler drove in a run with a single to right field.
Leo Randazzo's slow-rolling ground ball to second base plated another run with a fielder's choice as New England batted around the order in the first to make it 5-0.
Daddio helped his own cause in the top of the second with an RBI bloop single to right field to score Charlie Meglio, cutting the deficit to four runs at 5-1.
New Jersey left the bases loaded in the second inning as Righter struck out Ryan Kinsman to avoid further damage and maintain a four-run lead.
New Jersey cut the deficit to three runs in the top of the third inning when Chris Cartnick, who laced a double down the right field line, scored on a wild pitch with two outs to make it 5-2.
New England put the game away in the fourth inning when Troy Ashkinos blasted a grand slam over the wall in the center field. The inning did not come without drama, however. One batter before the home run, New Jersey appeared to have New England's Michael Iannazzo caught in a run down between third base and home plate. On the fourth throw, Iannazzo dodged out of the baseline - and into the third-base coach's box - to avoid the tag.
A runner being out of the baseline is not reviewable in little league, so the runner was ruled safe on the play, setting the stage for Ashkinos home run.
After a rough first inning, Daddio had settled in before allowing the grand slam in the fourth. He finished with one strikeout and five walks, one intentional. He had back-to-back run-free innings in the second and third.
New England added three runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to close out the dominant 10-run victory.
As New Jersey's first team to reach Williamsport since Parsippany did so in 2012, the Jackson-based team made headlines as a power-hitting offensive stalwart. New Jersey had nine-run innings in each of its win over the Great Lakes and the West and scored 27 runs over those two games.
Brian Deakyne may be reached at bdeakyne@njadvancemedia.com. Follow him on Twitter @BrianDeakyne. Like NJ.com High School Sports on Facebook.