Lightning Baseball Highlights

Newtown Lightning Connecticut Senior Baseball League 19U game results from this past week are as follows:

Shelton 12, Lightning 9: Newtown outplayed the defending state champs through most of the game but fell apart in the sixth inning when Shelton scored five runs Saturday at Fairfield Hills Field. Two costly errors and spotty pitching, including ten walks, led to the demise of the Lightning. Newtown has a 10-5 record entering the mid-season break for the state tournament. Newtown jumped out to a 3-1 first-inning lead off Shelton starter Chad Cahoon, one of Shelton High School’s former great players. Newtown’s Ben Stoller drilled a single to right center, and Will Arndt cracked a double over third base. Michael Allwein lined an RBI single to score Stoller, and after Alex Saviano reached on a fielder’s choice and Eric Sutton walked, Eric Pisani crushed a bases-loaded, two-RBI single to left. Newtown upped the lead to 4-1 when Ryan Pisani walked, and Brandon Cooper unloaded an RBI double over the right fielder’s head. Shelton scored four unearned runs in the third inning to take a 5-4 lead, but Newtown tied the score with an unearned run in the bottom of the inning. Newtown took a 7-5 lead in the fourth inning. Eric Pisani singled, Bobby Archiere reached on an error and both later scored on RBI groundouts by Chris Haylon and Dan Harrison. In the fifth inning, Arndt blasted an inside-the-park home run to right center, sliding into home to narrowly beat the relay throw. Newtown squandered the 8-5 lead by yielding five sixth-inning and two seventh-inning runs with poor fielding and weak relief pitching. Newtown scored one run in its final at bat when Arndt walked and Allwein lined an RBI double to right.

Newtown 9, Pomperaug 0: Bobby Archiere, Eric Sutton, and Dan Harrison combined to pitch Newtown’s first shutout last week at Fairfield Hills Field. Pomperaug’s Mac Leeper, a Nonnewaug High School varsity starter, blanked Newtown on one hit over the first three innings, mixing a slow curve and sneaky fastball. Newtown came to life in the fourth inning. Ben Stoller crushed a 3-2 pitch over the left fielder’s head for a double. Alex Lapinski singled and was ordered to second by the first base coach. Leeper took the cutoff throw and fired wildly to second. The ball scooted deep to the outfield, and Stoller and Lapinski scored. Eric Sutton singled, Bob Archiere reached on a fielder’s choice, and Eric Pisani lined a two-RBI single to left center. Newtown scored five more runs in the fifth inning. Dan Harrison, who had doubled in the third inning, lined a single to left. Brandon Cooper walked, and Alex Lapinski was hit by a pitch. David Lucia and Sutton singled to drive in a run, and Pisani cracked another two-RBI single to give him four RBIs for the game.