Newtown’s U10 baseball team, after splitting its first two contests, needed to win five games in as many days, all in succession — finishing off seven games in seven days — to claim the Cal Ripken State Championship in Oxford during the first week of July. The Newtown Hawks Blue squad did the job, posting wins over Brookfield, Oxford, and New Milford, before avenging its lone tourney loss, to New Canaan Red, with back-to-back victories over New Canaan Red.

Not only did the Hawks win a handful of contests with their backs against the wall, but three of the must-win outcomes were decided by just one run, including a 5-4 edging of New Canaan Red in the deciding game. The Hawks, in fact, played four games that were one-run nail-biters in the tourney overall. Tournament action began with a 9-8 win over West Hartford on July 1. After a 2-1 setback to New Canaan Red on July 1, the Hawks edged the Brookfield Bucs 12-11 the next day. Then came a 7-6 win over the Oxford Blue Monsters on the Fourth of July. Newtown toppled the New Milford Green Wave 10-3 on July 5, then beat New Canaan Red 12-7 on July 6 to force a rematch the next day. The Hawks got the 5-4 win to celebrate the championship.

Game highlights are as follows:

Hawks 9, West Hartford 8:

-Hustle Award: Cy Sterner — 2 1/3 innings of scoreless relief pitching.

-Defensive Player of the Game: Reid Keil with a big inning ending pick off from behind the plate and game ending line drive catch in left field.

-Offensive Player of the game: Camron Veneziano — 2 for 2 at the plate with a double and triple and 4 RBI. He also stole home in the first and worked a huge two-out walk in the bottom of the fourth to get on and score the winning run.

In the fourth, Daniel Dogali hit the ball hard which led to an error, allowing Veneziano to score a winning run. The Hawks put up five runs in the second inning. Reid Keil, Aiden Berich, and Camron Veneziano all drove in runs in the frame. Camron Veneziano and Devin Santacroce both had two hits.

New Canaan 2, Hawks 1

-Hustle Award: Cy Sterner 4 2/3 innings pitched giving up no runs, no walks, striking out 5 while only giving up 3 hits.

-Defensive Player of the Game: Alex Flores after a tough bounce allowed New Canaan to tie up the game; Alex had a huge diving catch of a line drive and was able to then dive to the base in time to get an inning ending double play.

-Offensive Player of the Game: Devin Santacroce kicked off the game with a big single then scored Newtown’s only run with a heads-up decision to swipe home after a wild pitch bounced hard off the umpire.

Landon Katz threw 2 and 1/3 innings in relief. Aiden Berich, Devin Santacroce, Reid Keil, and Landon Katz all had one hit.

Hawks 12, Brookfield 11

-Hustle Award: Cole Boyajian showed grit by throwing 79 pitches in the first two innings alone. Brookfield went up 8-0 with some tough hops and some uncharacteristically rough defense from the Hawks. Boyajian just kept coming out to the mound and throwing strikes without pointing fingers.

-Defensive Player of the Game: Daniel Dogali handling all three of his fielding chances from second base, most notably a huge momentum-shifting diving catch to end the third.

-Offensive Player of the Game: Devin Santacroce went 2-for-4 with a huge two-run inside the park home run to cap off the Hawks’ six-run fourth inning.

The game was tied at nine in the top of the fifth when Alex Flores singled on a 1-2 count, scoring one run. Both pitching staffs had their hands full, frequently dealing with runners on base. Newtown Hawks Blue 10U collected ten hits. Alex Flores, Devin Santacroce, and Cy Sterner all collected multiple hits.

Hawks 7, Oxford 6

Offensive Player of the Game: Daniel Dogali blasted a key RBI double to get the Hawks’ four-run third inning going.

Defensive Player of the Game: Cy Sterner pitched four innings and allowed only three runs, none earned.

Hustle Award: Alex Flores with a big RBI single in the bottom of the sixth to bring Newtown within one run. Then on the next pitch scored the game winning run from first on a double by Devin Santacroce.

Game Ball: Devin Santacroce with a missile of a two-RBI double to end the game on the first pitch of his sixth inning at bat.

The Hawks seized victory in dramatic walk-off fashion, thanks to a walk-off double by Santacroce. Newtown trailed 6-5 in the bottom of the sixth inning when Santacroce doubled on the first pitch of the at bat, scoring two runs. The base paths were crowded in this high-scoring game. Newtown Hawks Blue collected eight hits, two by Santacroce, and the Oxford Blue Monsters had four. Cy Sterner led things off on the hill for the Hawks. The righthander allowed three hits and three runs over four innings, striking out five.

Hawks 10, New Milford 3

Offensive Player of the Game: Reid Keil with a clutch two-run triple in the Hawks’ four-run fifth. Keil used smart base running to get home when New Milford overthrew third base.

Defensive Player of the Game: Devin Santacroce looked like a big leaguer in center field, making three catches a ten-year-old has no business making, Newtown coaches said.

Hustle Award: Camron Veneziano fighting to get through two innings of pitching and keeping New Milford to just two runs despite battling command issues. Veneziano also fielded all of his chances.

Game Ball: Alex Flores with four strong innings of one-run relief pitching.

The Hawks had all cylinders firing on offense. In the first inning, Daniel Dogali singled to score a run. In the third Landon Katz grounded out, scoring one run. Newtown notched four runs in the fifth inning as Reid Keil tripled and Cy Sterner came up with a key single in the frame. Veneziano started on the mound and lasted two innings, allowing two hits and two runs, while striking out two. Alex Flores closed the door on the hill. The Hawks racked up 15 hits. Daniel Dogali, Alex Flores, Aiden Berich, Landon Katz, and Cy Sterner all managed multiple hits for Newtown Hawks Blue 10U. Dogali led the Hawks with three hits in four at bats.

Hawks 12, New Canaan 7

Offensive Player: Cy Sterner 2-for 3 with a walk and two RBI.

Defensive Player: Reid Keil catching three fly balls in left field despite an absolutely brutal sun glare. At this time of day no team had a left fielder making these plays, Newtown coaches said.

Hustle Award: Camron Veneziano stole home for the go ahead run in the sixth inning. This was the third time during bracket play he has stolen home; the teams knew it was coming and somehow he still caught them sleeping.

Game Ball: Landon Katz with five innings of relief needing only 59 pitches. He was also 2-for-3 with an enormous game-tying sacrifice fly in the sixth.

Game Ball: Aiden Berich 3-for-4 with two RBI and two runs scored. All of his hits were scorchers.

The game was tied at seven with Newtown Hawks Blue 10U batting in the top of the sixth when Veneziano stole home. New Canaan Red scored four runs in the first inning, and the Hawks began to battle back in the bottom of the opening frame when Aiden Berich singled on a 0-1 count, scoring two runs. Newtown collected 13 hits. Berich, Landon Katz, Devin Santacroce, Cole Boyajian, and Cy Sterner each racked up multiple hits. Berich went 3-for-4. Katz was called in for early relief to start the second inning and allowed only runs pitching the remainder of the game.

Hawks 5, New Canaan 4

Offensive Player of the Game: Aiden Berich who came up with the bases loaded with his team down two runs, and smashes a bases-clearing, game-winning double.

Defensive Player of the Game: Cy Sterner pitched the final three innings, allowing only two runs along with a diving catch at short stop.

Hustle Award: Alex Flores with a big two-run single in the fifth to keep Newtown in the game, bringing it from 4-0 to 4-2 New Canaan.

A walk-off double by Berich capped a thrilling victory for the Hawks. Berich came through on a 0-1 count, scoring three runs. Camron Veneziano started on the mound. The righty allowed two runs over three innings. Cy Sterner finished off the remaining three innings, allowing only two runs as well. Cy Sterner, Aiden Berich, Daniel Dogali, Cole Boyajian, Camron Veneziano, and Alex Flores all had one hit in the win. The Hawks will represent Connecticut in the New England Regional Tournament in Bethel next week.