Wolf Pack Claws To Championship

The Newtown 10-year-old travel baseball team, the Wolf Pack, continued its strong showing this season by capturing the Cal Ripken District 5 tournament title on July 2.

Newtown bested its arch rivals from Southbury in the championship game to take the title.

Newtown started the five-team double-elimination tournament with a decisive 10-0 victory over Oxford. Luke Melillo and Kyle Roche led the Wolf Pack offense with doubles, and Jack Miller, Josh Dunn, Jamey Hobar, and Shane Demers contributed with run-scoring singles.

Next up was a second-round showdown with Southbury. Newtown emerged with a 5-3 victory fueled by Melillo’s double followed by key hits from Cole Demirjian, Jack Miller, and Hobar. Newtown’s pitching and defense held Southbury scoreless until the fifth inning behind strong efforts from Robert Murray and Ben Terry, and a nice running catch by Robert DiSibio.

Newtown faltered in the next meeting with Southbury, falling 4-3 in seven innings. Newtown got off to an early lead, sparked by Tess Davenport’s two singles, but could not overcome a late-inning rally by Southbury despite a leadoff double by Jimmy Davies in the seventh and a brilliant three-inning pitching performance by Murray.

In the final game, the Newtown Wolf Pack showed it had the stuff of champions with another 5-3 victory over Southbury. Despite being without its starting pitcher and falling behind early, the Wolf Pack hung together and fought back. Josh Dunn’s RBI single scored Miller to get Newtown on the board and Melillo’s pitching performance kept Newtown in the game. Ben Terry’s two-RBI double tied the game and sparked two more runs with key hits from Murray, DiSibio, and Dunn. Kyle Roche closed the game on the mound with two strong, hitless innings. The Wolf Pack earned a spot in the Cal Ripken State Tournament which starts July 9.