Lightning Team Wins DivisionTitle

The Newtown Lightning Senior Babe Ruth 18U baseball team capped an impressive divisional playoff run with a 10-0 drubbing of Torrington to win the I-84/Candlewood Valley Division Championship, Monday night at Newtown High School.

Newtown, which lost its first game to Torrington in the double-elimination playoff tournament and faced elimination in every subsequent game against teams packed with high-school varsity players, reeled off victories against Ridgefield and Danbury, and then defeated Torrington twice.

In the final championship game, the Lightning batted all 11 players and each played a key role in the victory. The play of Alex Saviano, Ben Stoller, and Gary Braun lifted the team to the victory.

Braun, the scheduled starting pitcher, injured a finger on a groundball during the pre-game warm-up and was getting his finger taped when the Lightning had to take the field. Saviano was called in from left field to pitch as a replacement starter, and he used a sharp-breaking curve and a low, outside-corner fastball to throw a sparkling four-hit shutout. He walked none, hit two batters, and struck out seven.

The victory was especially satisfying for Saviano, a recent Newtown High School graduate who said he had never won a baseball championship. Stoller, who carried the team offensively and played a brilliant, errorless first base throughout the double-elimination playoff, reached base in all three at bats against Torrington. He drilled two hits and walked, scored two runs, and stole five bases.

Stoller, who bats second in the lineup, has now reached base in ten consecutive at bats and leads the team with a .366 batting average. In the five-game playoff, he reached base in 13 of 20 at bats, batted .500, stole eight bases, scored six runs, and drove in three more.

Braun knocked in three runs with two singles in the championship game to raise his average to .290. He batted .417 during the playoffs, knocked in four runs, and pitched a complete-game win against Ridgefield.

A catcher at Abbott Tech, Braun was converted to a pitcher for the Lightning this summer. He’s responded with amazing statistics, walking only three batters in 30 innings of pitching, and compiling a 2.73 earned run average.

In the title game against Torrington, the visitors loaded the bases with two outs in the top of the first inning, but Saviano struck out Ray Royals on a curveball to escape.

Stoller led off the bottom of the inning by drilling a single to left against Royals, a varsity player for Wolcott Tech. Stoller stole second and third bases and was driven home by a sacrifice fly to right by Dan Milot. Royals walked John Lebinski and Tim Jorgensen. James Rebman slashed a single to load the bases and Scott Cunningham walked to make the score 2-0.

Newtown’s Mike Herring led off the bottom of the second inning by rocketing a line drive down the left field line for a triple, and Braun ripped an RBI single to center. In the third inning, Stoller lined a single to left, stole second and went to third when Lebinski’s towering fly to left was dropped. Jorgensen knocked in Stoller on a fielder’s choice, and Milot hit a sacrifice fly to deep center to score Lebinski and up the lead to 5-0.

In the fourth inning, Newtown center fielder Colton Sposta took nearly all the wind out of Torrington’s sails. Threatening a comeback with two men on base and two outs, Torrington’s Andrew Fisher smacked a long drive to right center that appeared uncatchable and headed for extra bases. Sposta and right fielder Cunningham ran full tilt to catch up with the ball and collided just as Sposta made a one-handed catch. Both hit the ground hard, but Sposta held on for the out and limped off the field.

In the bottom of the inning, Sposta led off with a walk and stole second. Braun hit a grounder that was booted by the second baseman and thrown weakly to first, allowing Sposta to score from second.

Torrington loaded the bases with two outs in the sixth inning, but Saviano struck out Fisher to end the threat. In the bottom of the inning, the relentless Lightning bats scored four more to take a 10-0 lead, ending the game according to the league’s 10-run mercy rule. Rebman walked to start the rally, Cunningham singled to right, and Sposta reached on a third baseman’s error to load the bases. Herring lined an RBI single to left, Saviano lifted an RBI sacrifice fly to right, and Braun finished the damage by lacing a two-RBI single over the infield.

The Lightning advanced to the winner-take-all game with a 4-3 win over the Lightning at NHS on Saturday. Highlights from the first win over Torrington, and victories over Danbury and Ridgefield are as follows:

Lightning 4, Torrington 3: Sposta, on the mound, and Stoller led Saturday’s Lightning comeback, and several teammates – particularly Rebman, Cunningham, Herring – came through in the clutch. Newtown’s victory was especially sweet, because it came against pitcher Spencer Cerruto, who played for a Torrington High School’s 19-7 varsity team in the spring and beat the Lightning in the first game of the playoffs.

Torrington built a 3-1 lead despite strong pitching by Sposta and and great defensive plays by Stoller and Arndt in the infield. In the bottom of the sixth, Stoller ignited the Newtown comeback by drilling a line-drive single past the third baseman. Stoller stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch, and scored on Jorgensen’s long sacrifice fly to center. Milot, who was on first with a walk, moved to second after the third baseman caught a popup and then threw wildly trying to double Milot. Rebman, celebrating his birthday, drilled his first extra-base hit of the season, an RBI double to right center to tie the game. After the Torrington pitcher balked, Cunningham bounced a single up the middle for the game-winning RBI.  

In the top of the seventh, left fielder Herring made a spectacular one-handed catch on the run and Sposta did the rest to close out the win.

Lightning 6, Danbury 5: In a wood-bat game at NHS, Newtown eliminated a Danbury team comprised entirely of starting varsity players from Abbott Tech and Danbury High School. Braun, the only Abbott Tech player on Newtown’s roster, drilled an RBI single to right field for a 1-0 first-inning lead.

Danbury scored four second-inning runs before Newtown relief pitcher Saviano put out the fire. In the bottom of the inning, Will Arndt lined an RBI single to left, and Stoller knocked in a run on an infield grounder.

Saviano hurled four shutout innings, yielding just two singles and a walk. In the fourth inning, Newtown claimed the lead. Stoller drilled an RBI single up the gap in left center to score Rebman and Arndt scored on an error for a 5-4 lead.

In the sixth inning, Danbury threatened. Second baseman Braun jumped to make a catch and threw to first baseman Stoller for a double play, and center fielder Sposta back-pedaled and made a clutch catch. With two outs in the bottom of the inning, Stoller clobbered a pitch deep into the gap in left center for a double. On the next pitch, Stoller got a great jump to steal third, but Braun delivered a line-drive single to right center to score him with what proved to be a huge insurance run.

In the seventh, Sposta came in to pitch. Danbury closed to within a run but a rally ended when Andy Sawyer, attempting to steal third, was thrown out. Catcher Milot fired a bullet to third baseman Jorgensen, who didn’t budge from the sliding spikes and made a nice tag for the final out.

Lightning 5, Ridgefield 2: Against Ridgefield — stocked with five players from the Western Connecticut all-star team that recently played in the state tournament — the story was Newtown pitcher Braun. The heady Braun hurled a complete, 98-pitch game, scattering seven hits, walking none, and striking out eight.

Braun, an Abbott Tech catcher who was converted to a pitcher for the summer season, baffled Ridgefield’s hitters by keeping the ball low, changing speeds and throwing a sharp-breaking slow curve. Braun, who has a deadly pickoff move that erased a Ridgefield runner in the second inning, has shown uncanny control, walking only three batters in 29 innings of pitching this summer.

Newtown scored all its runs in the second inning. Braun drilled a single to left field, and Milot and Jorgensen walked to load the bases. Rebman was hit by a pitch to force in a run, and Colton Sposta smacked a two-RBI double to left center. Saviano singled, and Joey Maggio and Mike Lobosco were hit by pitches to bring home two more runs.

Sposta played a sharp shortstop, recording five putouts and two assists. He ended the fourth inning with a sensational catch, running across the infield grass and diving headlong to catch a short popup between first and second base. With two men on base and the potential tying run at bat in the final inning, he hungrily ranged into short left field to snare the final out.