If Farmington has proven anything during its run through the state Little League tournament, however, it has shown that it likes challenges.

Anthony Perri’s two-run, pinch-hit single to right in the fourth inning answered Jason Sutkowski’s home run moments earlier and gave Farmington a 2-1 victory over Glastonbury National in Game 1 of the State Championship Series on Friday night at Northwest Park in Manchester.

"That’s an example of how this team plays together," Farmington coach Bill Spracklin said. "(Perri) came off the bench, that’s his only at-bat, and he stayed in there and he just drilled the baseball."

With Glastonbury National up 1-0, Farmington’s Christian Dubay continued his streak of clutch hits with a double down the left-field line to start the last of the fourth. He went to third on a wild pitch, and Sean Haggerty’s one-out walk gave Farmington runners on the corners. Haggerty stole second, and Perri came up with two outs and runners on second and third. He proceeded to hit the ball hard through the right side, scoring two and giving Farmington pitcher David Wiegard all the support he needed.

"Glastonbury is a great team with a great bunch of hitters, but we rose to the occasion tonight," Spracklin said.

Glastonbury’s hitters had very little success getting to Wiegard on this day, but one big hit was nearly enough.

Jason Sutkowski led off the top of the fourth with a low line drive to left that easily cleared the fence to make it 1-0. While many 12-year-old players would have been flustered by giving up the blast, Wiegard was instead inspired. He retired the last nine batters of the game, pitching three perfect innings after the home run.

"I looked at him a little bit and I could tell he was a little upset," Spracklin said of Wiegard. "He’s an emotional kid. But his body language changed immediately and he started blowing kids away right after that."

Weigard helped himself in the field in the sixth, knocking down a ball from John Charles Nowosadko before calmly retrieving it and underhanding to first base for the first out of the inning. It was just one of several solid plays in the field for Farmington, which, while not spectacular, is efficient and solid on defense.

"Our motto this year is pitching and defense," Spracklin said. "We’re a good hitting club, but when we lost the game (in the sectional tournament) to Shelton, we didn’t play defense. If you pitch and play defense, you’ll win most of the time."

The other key thing Wiegard gave Farmington was innings. While Glastonbury went through three pitchers, one of whom, Corey Edsall, cannot pitch today in Game 2, Wiegard allowed Spracklin to have his full arsenal today, starting with Brian Cohan, who gutted out the win that won the Sectional title for Farmington on Tuesday.

Sutkowski, who gave up the hit to Perri, is expected to start today for Glastonbury National, which must win today to force a third and deciding game on Sunday, or Farmington goes to the Little League Eastern Regional tournament in Bristol.

Matt Straub can be reached via email at mstraub@newbritainherald.com