Lightning Nips Torrington 9-8

The Newtown Lightning 18U Senior Babe Ruth Baseball team edged Torrington 9-8 in a battle at Newtown High School this past week. The Lightning moved into first place in the Connecticut Senior Baseball League’s Eastern Division with the nail-biting victory. The win upped the Newtown club’s record to 7-4 as the team avenged a 6-2 loss at Torrington earlier in the season.

In the first inning, Newtown starting pitcher Gary Braun threw to third baseman Tim Jorgensen to nail a runner trying to steal third and then picked a runner off first with the aid of a quick tag by first baseman Ben Stoller. In the bottom of the inning, Mike Lobosco reached on the second baseman’s error before Stoller ripped a line drive that handcuffed the left fielder and went off his glove. Dan Milot walked to load the bases, and John Lebinski drilled a two-RBI single up the middle. Jorgensen walked to load the bases, and Alex Saviano walked to force in a run. James Rebman slapped an RBI grounder to the right side to give Newtown a 4-0 lead.

Torrington scored two in the second, and Newtown added another run for a 5-2 lead. Scott Cunningham singled to right, stole second, and moved to third on walks to Colton Sposta and Lobosco. Stoller crushed a screaming line drive to left center, but fleet-footed center fielder Stephen Peterson was playing in the gap and made a tremendous sliding catch. Cunningham tagged up and scored.

Newtown seemingly broke the game open with four third-inning runs to take a 9-2 lead. Dan Milot popped a single to short right, Lebinski grounded a single to left and, after Jorgensen reached on a force out, Saviano crushed an RBI single over third base. Rebman drove in another run with an RBI grounder, Saviano scored when Steven Michos reached on an error, and Cunningham dropped an RBI single into short right.

Torrington battled back for four fourth-inning runs to narrow the lead to 9-6. In the fifth, a Torrington double and single narrowed the deficit to 9-7, and the visitors had men on first and second with no outs. Sposta, Newtown’s ace pitcher, came on in relief for the first time this season and put out the fire. He yielded a single to make the score 9-8, but then got out of the jam by striking out two batters to end the inning.

In the sixth inning, which the umpires declared was the final one because of darkness, Sposta struck out the first two batters before Stephen Peterson crushed a long double. Sposta retired the final batter by catching a popup near the first-base line.