It was hard enough to ask the Babe Ruth Baseball 14-year-old all stars to beat Danbury once - but twice?
It was hard enough to ask the Babe Ruth Baseball 14-year-old all stars to beat Danbury once â but twice?
That is what the 14s needed to do, though, in order to win the District 4 championship and while they could manage it once, they couldnât manage it a second time and lost 4-2 on Monday night at Walnut Tree.
As the host of the District 4 tournament, Newtown drew a first-round bye. When it finally took to the field, it was against an old nemesis â New Fairfield â which had dealt Newtown first-round losses the last two years.
This time, Newtown rolled to an 18-1 win. Alex Dolan, Alex Meisel and Seth Hull combined on the mound.
In the following game, though, the 14s dropped a 13-5 decision to Danbury as the visitors exploded for eight runs in the 10th inning. Peter Oggeri was 2-for-5 while Jon Larsen and Andrew Chimileski each scored a pair of runs. David Modzelewski, Larsen and Joe Devellis were sparkling in the outfield â in fact, Modzelewski gunned down a runner at home with a strong 230-foot throw from centerfield.
In the loserâs bracket, Newtown clipped Bethel, 7-5, as Steve Vichiola went 3-for-4 with four runs scored and Hull went 2-for-4 with an RBI triple. Oggeri reached base four times and Modzelewski fired a complete game on the mound.
The 14s advanced to the championship round and used a three-run sixth inning to shock Danbury, 5-3. Hull pitched 51/3Â innings of solid ball and then Dolan came on for the save. In the field, Bryan Fogelstrom tracked a towering fly ball to the underbrush in leftfield and made the catch; rightfielder Devellis gunned down a runner at the plate in the sixth inning; and shortstop Vichiola nailed a runner at first from deep in the hole.
At the plate, Dolan was 3-for-3 while Hull was 1-for-2 with two runs scored. Gary Andrews ripped a fifth-inning doubled while Modzelewski and Devellis banged out RBI singles.
The win forced a final confrontation with Danbury on Monday, but Danbury was the one that came out on top by a count of 4-2. A three-run, fourth-inning rally snapped a 1-1 tie and did most of the damage in this one.
Even though Dolan and Meisel were strong on the hill, and the defense remained strong, the Danbury pitching proved too much for Newtown. Dolan did rip two singles while Oggeri and Vichiola chipped in with hits.