Kromberg Inspires Hawks’ Win At Bethel; Junior Expected To Return To Lineup

By Andy Hutchison

The Newtown High School baseball team, on April 30, returned to Bethel High School two days after a scary injury to junior centerfielder Kyle Kromberg halted the originally scheduled game between the South-West Conference opponents.

This time around, the players and coaches left the field with a much better feeling about things. Newtown won 13-4, but that was only the capper to a memorable day for the Nighthawks.

The Nighthawks were given some extra incentive to win when Kromberg, who sustained a concussion, broken nose and seizure as a result of a collision when he dove for a fly ball, visited his teammates at the beginning of the makeup game. Having the chance to see their battered teammate, who had been transported to Danbury Hospital and received plastic surgery after biting through his lip, was a thrill for the Nighthawk teammates.

Newtown went on to hand Bethel, the best team in the South-West Conference to this point, only its second loss of the campaign.

“We all wanted to go out and win for Kyle today,” said Newtown catcher Brandon Rosenberger, who played a key role in his team’s triumph.

Rosenberger hit a two-run home run to put his team in the lead, and added a two-run double to put a little distance between the Nighthawks and Wildcats late in the game.

“To blow that one open on one of the best teams in the league is very exciting,” Rosenberger said.

Colby Brown, Andy Lapple, Jake DeVellis, Bryan Czel and Chris Marks, the latter of whom delivered a clutch pinch-hit two-RBI single, came through with big days at the plate to turn a 2-2 fifth-inning deadlock into a laugher in the late innings.

Newtown improved to 5-5 overall (2-4 in the conference) and the Wildcats fell to 8-2 (6-2).

The Nighthawks, in their first game following the incident, on April 29, fell short 6-5 to Notre Dame-Fairfield. NHS Coach Carl Strait said his team was not back to normal after the players and coaches witnessed the scary, bloody injury to Kromberg.

“We still weren’t thinking about baseball. We were thinking about our baseball family,” Strait said of the cloud that hung over the Hawks until Kromberg’s visit.

Newtown, before pulling away to beat Bethel, had not been able to win a game that was very close in the late innings. The Hawks had lost a two-run extra-inning game and four games by just one run.

“We’ve been struggling to get above .500. It’s good to beat the best,” Brown said.

Newtown did get above .500 in a 20-5 rout of Oxford at home on Monday.

RJ Roman, the team’s No. 9 hitter, and Lapple, who batted fourth in this game, both had three hits and knocked in four runs. Ricky Gallucci, Joe Fedak and DeVellis combined to hold Oxford’s offense at bay. The Nighthawks allowed three unearned runs in the second inning before their bats broke loose as eight of nine starters connected with hits to put the game away.

The Hawks will try to build a winning record with Kromberg expected to return — not only to the bench for inspiration, but to the playing field. He had stitches removed Monday and was cleared by doctors to rejoin the team one week after his concussion symptoms subside, Strait said. Kromberg could be back in the lineup as early as next week.

“He will be back before the end of the season,” the coach added.