Thunder Rumbles To Wins At Glander Field

Newtown’s Cal Ripken Baseball team is hosting the 11U 50/70 state playoffs at Robert Glander Field this week.

A dozen teams from the state competed in pool play for the right to make the double elimination tournament. Newtown was selected to host the tournament mainly due to the investment the town made in creating only one of three fields in the state specifically made for 70-foot base paths and a 50-foot distance from the pitcher’s mound to home plate.

The Newtown Thunder was given the No. 1 seed as the host, however Danbury and Brookfield cruised through pool play with 4-0 records looking to take the title. Other qualifiers were Bethwood, Bethel, New Milford, Hebron, and New Canaan.

As part of the openings ceremony, 12-year-old Robert Hutchins did the announcing and each player was presented with a Gift of Goodies from the Newtown parents.

The Newtown Thunder erupted in the first game with a barrage of hits and routed Bethel 17-2. Colby Olsen, who had four runs batted in, Connor Barrett, and Benny Dieckman all had multiple-hit performances.

In the second-round game, the bats were held at bay by superb pitching by both teams. New Canaan shut down the Newtown offense by allowing only three hits. However, the Thunder did its opponent one better.

Lucas O’Brien and Jason Hebner held the New Canaan All Stars to only two hits and one run as they won 2-1. The Newtown pitchers picked off three runners. Newtown’s hard-earned runs were on sacrifice fly balls by Adam Bergeron and Dieckman.

The Newtown Thunder, last year’s World Series team, is peaking at the perfect time. On Tuesday night  it was déjà vu as the opponent was Brookfield in the winners bracket final of the 11U Cal Ripken Connecticut state playoffs. Last year Newtown defeated Brookfield in the same game of the tourney, 5-2, with Lucas O’Brien hitting a big home run. This year it looked like it was payback time as Niko Droukas from Brookfield powered a first-inning blast off O’Brien as Brookfield took the early lead. What Brookfield did not know of course was that was going to be its only run of the night as Newtown rolled 11-1.

  The bats came right back for the Thunder as “Superman” Barrett welcomed the Brookfield Bandits to Glander field with a leadoff double over the bag at third. Ryan Kost followed with a  replica shot to left and the Thunder has first and second and none gone. O’Brien and Hebner brought them in with ground outs.   

Newtown’s pitching then shut the Bandits down throughout the rest of the game. O’Brien pitched a scoreless second inning and Jason Hebner pitched the next four innings. His off-speed pitches had the opponents spinning on their heels and they only had one hit in the last four innings.

Meanwhile, Newtown’s bats got hotter and hotter. Barrett hit one off the top of the fence and later hit his third double of the day. Kost delivered again, placing his soft liner in the unreachable spot in left center. Olson walked and scored and then ripped a hit to left center for an RBI and scored again. Dieckman and Hebner then hit hard singles to plate runs. When the dust finally settled in the fifth, the Thunder had loaded the bases and needed one more run to win by the ten-run mercy rule. When O’Brien took a fourth pitch off the plate the walk off walk made the Thunder just one victory shy of its third straight state title.

The Newtown Thunder was scheduled to play the winner of the loser’s bracket game on Thursday night on Glander field (after The Bee went to press) and must be defeated twice to keep it from that title.