As the Newtown 12-year-old All Star team continued to dominate the New England Regionals and were on the verge of qualifying for the Cal Ripken World Series, the 11-year-old All Star team was stunned by Southbury in the Connecticut Babe Ruth State Tournament and saw its dream of a third straight New England Regional appearance put in some jeopardy.

Meanwhile, the Newtown 9-year-old All Star team reached the championship round of its state tournament before falling to Danbury.

Read on –

 

U12

Newtown 13, Vermont 0

Newtown 14, Maine 1

Newtown 8, Rhode Island 1

One win.

Following dominating wins over Lamoille County, Vermont (13-0); Mesalonskee, Maine (14-1); and Cranston, Rhode Island (8-1) in Keene, New Hampshire, the Newtown Blaze 12-year-old All Star team is one win away from an unprecedented fourth consecutive New England Regional championship.

And, of course, that means a trip – a second trip – to the Cal Ripken World Series.

The Blaze advanced to the championship round with an 8-1 win over Cranston on Tuesday night and, at press time, awaited the winner of the Mesalonskee-Cranston Loser’s Bracket final. The first game of the championship round was slated for Thursday at 5:30 and the second, if necessary, would follow at 7 pm.

A win would send the Bombers to the Cal Ripken World Series in Aberdeen, Maryland (August 13-20), two years after appearing in the Cal Ripken World Series in Vincennes, Indiana, as a 10-year-old All Star team.

Against Cranston, the Blaze snapped a 0-0 tie with three runs in the top of the third on a three-run homer by Ryan Tita. Dominick Fedak started off the frame by getting hit by a pitch and William Arndt followed by working out a walk, setting the stage for Tita’s blast … his third of the tournament.

The locals tacked on two more in the top of the fifth. Oliver Powers opened with a walk and moved to third on a double by Ryan Powers. Sean Burson then grounded out to first to score Oliver Powers and Ryan Powers later scored on a throwing error by the Cranston pitcher.

Meanwhile, Tita was on the hill and dominating the Rhode Island lineup. Through five innings, he allowed just four hits while fanning nine batters. Rhode Island scratched out a run in the bottom of the frame when Curtis Droniak came on in relief, but by then the game was well over as the Blaze had added three more runs in the top of the frame.

Fedak reached on an error, Arndt doubled and Tita walked to load the bags. Then Oliver Powers singled in Fedak, Jack Kneisel singled in Tita, and Burson singled in Powers to put the locals ahead 8-0.

Rain had pushed off the start of the tournament and the Blaze was rarin’ to go last weekend, smashing Lamoille County, Vermont, 13-0, as Fedak fired a four-inning no-hitter, striking out six batters and facing just 13 overall … one more than the minimum.

Meanwhile, the locals collected just six hits at the plate, but took advantage of three errors, seven walks, and two hit batsmen to score all 13 runs in the first three innings.

In the bottom of the first, Oliver Powers cracked a two-run homer and Sean Ross belted a solo jack to start the scoring as Newtown sent 11 men to the plate. Those were the only two hits, though, as Tita, Burson and Oliver Powers reached on errors; Chris Tenney, Kneisel and Tita were walked and Fedak was plunked by a pitch.

In the bottom of the second, Ross walked and came all the way around on three passed balls while Tenney singled in Droniak to put the locals on top, 8-0. In the bottom of the third, Fedak, Arndt and Colin Morris were all walked to lead off the frame and Austin Bonadio followed with a two-run single to score Fedak and Arndt. Ross then doubled in Morris, Burson singled in Bonadio and Droniak lofted a sacrifice fly that scored Ross to put the locals on top, 13-0.

In the top of the fourth, Fedak whiffed the first two batters and induced the third to ground out to first to close out the game.

And because of the rain, the Blaze needed to play a doubleheader that day and followed up the shutout of Vermont with a 14-1 shellacking of Mesalonskee, Maine. Oliver Powers and Bonadio combined on a two-hitter, but the Blaze put this one out of reach early with an 11-run explosion in the bottom of the first inning.

Tita belted two home runs in that inning, a solo shot to lead off the frame and a grand slam the second time around that put the Blaze ahead 9-0. After Tita homered to lead off, the explosion continued with a walk to Ryan Powers, a single by Ross, a walk to Burson, a run-scoring single by Fedak, a run-scoring single by Morris, a run-scoring single by Bonadio, a bases-loaded walk (and RBI) for Arndt and the grand slam by Tita. But the Blaze was not finished as Oliver Powers homered and Ryan Powers singled, reaching second on a passed ball, stealing third and being awarded home on the play.

When it was all done, the locals had collected eight hits with three walks and scored 11 runs without Mesalonskee making an error.

There was a little trouble in the top of the second as Mesalonskee collected a leadoff single off Oliver Powers and put a runner on third thanks to a passed ball and infield grounder. But Powers shut the door with a strikeout.

In the bottom of the second, the Blaze did the rest of the damage, scoring three runs to take a 14-0 lead. Tenney walked, Morris singled and Bonadio reached on a fielder’s choice to put runners on the corners. Then up came Kneisel, who – subbing in for Tita – blasted a three-run homer.

That’s three homers and eight RBI from the leadoff spot alone.

But the locals wanted more as Oliver Powers was walked, Ryan Powers singled and Droniak was walked to load the bases. A pop up to shortstop, though, prevented the Blaze from tacking on any more runs.

“It was quite impressive,” said manager Bill Kneisel. “And the Maine team was a good team but no matter what their pitchers did they just got pounded.”

Mesalonskee notched its only run in the top of the third, scoring an outfield error. Newtown went quietly in the bottom of the frame before Droniak closed out the game in the top of the fourth, striking out the last two batters.

11s

Newtown 11, West Norwalk 1

Southbury 3, Newtown 2

Fortunes can change in an instant.

Just minutes after a Reid Schmidt leadoff solo homer in the top of the sixth gave the Newtown 11-year-old All Stars new life in their Connecticut Babe Ruth State Tournament tilt with Southbury, that life was taken away in the bottom of the frame.

Down 2-1 heading into the final inning, the Bombers – who could muster only a handful of hits despite getting a bat on almost every pitch – needed a jolt and Schmidt gave ‘em just that with a home run over the centerfield fence.

The game had been sailing along at that point as both teams pitched well and fielded great and the prospect of extra innings loomed, but Southbury led off with a line drive double and moments later, on a hit up the middle, scored the winning run.

The loss dropped the Bombers – who opened the tournament with an 11-1, mercy rule-shortened win over West Norwalk – into the Loser’s Bracket … a much stiffer challenge for the two-time defending New England Regional champions.

The Bombers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning as Dan Poeltl singled and scored on a two-out single by Gary Braun. But for the rest of the game, despite getting their bats on nearly every strike, the Bombers always managed to hit the ball right at someone.

Southbury took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the third on a pair of singles and a double.

Colton Sposta pitched well for the Hawks at the start and Richie Sandler was sparkling in relief.

The locals opened the tournament with an 11-1 win over West Norwalk as Jon Hull went 3-for-3 with two RBI and two runs scored. Andy Kelley and Kyle Wilcox each went 2-for-3 with a pair of runs scored while Poeltl went 2-for-3. Kelley and Schmidt both tripled and Sandler doubled.

The locals broke open a 1-1 game with a seven-run explosion in the bottom of the third. Four consecutive singles yielded only a force out at second, but Michael Allwein reached on a fielder’s choice grounder and Kelley scored the initial run. Hull and David Gerics slapped run-scoring singles and Schmidt ripped a three-run triple to put the Bombers ahead 8-1.

The locals tacked on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to invoke the mercy rule. Wilcox singled and Sandler doubled before Hull and Joe Davis banged out run-scoring singles. Hull later scored on a passed ball to give the Bombers their 10-run cushion.

U9

Newtown 12, South Meriden 2

Beth-Wood 16, Newtown 12

Newtown 8, Hebron 5

Newtown 12, West Norwalk 3

Newtown 11, Beth-Wood 1

Danbury 7, Newtown 5

With three consecutive must wins, the Newtown 9-year-old All Star team reached the championship round of the Connecticut Babe Ruth State Tournament.

But that’s where the magic ended for Newtown, which dropped a 7-5 decision to a tough Danbury squad and finished second.

The Nines started off the tournament with an impressive, 12-2 victory over South Meriden. Troy Frangione went 3-for-3 while Virgil Procaccini and Julian Dunn added two hits a piece. Nick Lotrecchiano chipped in with an impressive triple to the right center field wall.

Procaccini also pitched three strong innings and Jim Parker added one in the mercy-rule shortened contest.

The locals followed up with a 16-12 slugfest loss to Beth-Wood. Dunn had an enormous game, going 3-for-4 with a double, home run and six RBI. Colton Smith went 2-for-4, scoring two runs, as Stephen Grasso scored three runs scored Lotrecchiano and Parker scored two apiece.

In the first game in the Loser’s Bracket, Newtown rebounded with an 8-5 win over Hebron. Procaccini and Dunn had three hits apiece (one double for Procaccini and two triples for Dunn) with Andy Braun chipping in two hits and driving in two runs.

Jack Lago added a run scored and played well on defense.

Newtown was an overall 12-for-27 at the plate.

The locals followed up with a 12-3 win over West Norwalk, featuring a spectacular defensive performance by Chase Wurtz in left field. Wurtz was able to shut down the left side of the outfield with running and diving catches to change the momentum after Newtown fell into a 3-2 hole.

Smith and Lotrecchiano led the offense with two hits each while Smith scored three runs and Lotrecchiano drove in four. Procaccini and Parker combined to pitch five shut out innings with Procaccini getting the win.

With revenge on their minds, the Nines smashed Beth-Wood, 11-1, to advance to the championship round. Smith doubled and homered, Dunn singled and tripled and Grasso singled twice to fuel the offense. Smith and Dunn drove in three runs apiece.

In the final, Newtown started off quick with a single in the second inning by Smith which scored both Procaccini and Andy Braun. The lead was short lived, though, as Danbury was able to put together a few runs of their own to tie the game.

Newtown was able to gain the lead once again with runs scored by Smith, Dunn and Matt Wood as the locals took a 5-3 lead. Newtown just couldn’t hold the lead as Danbury came back with a big four-run inning.

Team members included Virgil Procaccini, Troy Frangione, Chase Wurtz, Andy Braun, Jack Lago, Nick Lotrecchiano, Stephen Grasso, Jim Parker, Julian Dunn, Matt Wood and Colton Smith. The team was coached by Jeff Grasso, Pat Smith and Rick Wood.