Newtown Hawks Battle In Playoffs

The Newtown Hawks, a 10-year-old baseball team, recently competed in the Route 84 League Playoffs. Game results are as follows:

Middlebury 9, Newtown Hawks 6: Tournament host Middlebury defeated the Newtown Hawks in the opening round of the playoffs. Newtown’s Brandon Hensel pitched well through three innings and the game was tied 2-2 after four innings. Middlebury the game open in the fifth inning, plating five runs with no outs before lightning in the distance forced play to be halted. With no rain falling yet, play resumed and Geoff Santore got out of a jam to keep Newtown within 7-2. Newtown responded with singles by Peter Clifford, Santore and Paul Whitaker sandwiched around a walk to Hensel, but a thunderstorm arrived halting play for the evening with runners on second and third and no outs in the bottom of the fifth. Resuming play the next day, Dan Pearson drove in Hensel with a sacrifice fly and Kelland Chrystie hit a dribbler that rolled fair, scoring the heads-up Whitaker. But Middlebury escaped more damage retiring the speedy Tom Cotton on a grounder to third. The Hawks dropped into the loser’s bracket.

Newtown Hawks 12, Brookfield 11: Owen Samson singled in Paul Whitaker with the winning run in the bottom of the sixth inning to keep the Hawks alive in the tournament. The Hawks entered the sixth inning down 11-10 but, with one out, Brandon Hensel doubled, and stayed on second when Whitaker hit an infield single to shortstop. Dan Pearson followed with a double scoring Hensel, setting the stage for Samson’s one-out game winning hit. The Hawks took a 7-1 lead after two innings on the strength of two solid innings on the mound from Peter Clifford and hits from Clifford (2-for-4), Geoff Santore (2-for-4), Hensel (3-for-3), Whitaker (2-for-4), Kelland Chrystie (1-for-3) and Tom Cotton (2-for-2). However, Brookfield rallied to take an 11-7 lead.  The Hawks scored three in the bottom of the fifth on three walks, nd error and two groundouts. Austin LeBlanc walked only one and struck out four in 2 2/3 innings of solid relief, and Brandon Hensel pitched a scoreless inning to pick up the win for the Hawks.

Newtown Hawks 11, Southbury 10 (7 innings): The Hawks staged a rally in the bottom of the sixth for the second straight day to stay alive in the Route 84 League tournament. This time, they entered the bottom of the sixth down 10-7. With one out, Colin Patrick and Geoff Santore both walked and Brandon Hensel reached on an error scoring Patrick. Paul Whitaker singled and Dan Pearson plated Santore with a fielder’s choice. With Owen Samson at the plate and two outs, Whitaker and Pearson pulled off a double steal to put runners on second and third. Coming through for the second straight day in the bottom of the sixth, Samson lined the next pitch to center for a single scoring Whitaker with the tying run, but Pearson was thrown out at home trying to score the winning run. In the top of the seventh, a walk, an error and a passed ball put Southbury runners on second and third with no outs, but Santore struck out three straight batters to escape the jam. Kelland Chrystie led off the bottom of the seventh with a double down the third base line. Tom Cotton laid down a beautiful bunt that he beat out for a single and then stole second.  Michael Liberante proceeded to end the game by driving in the winning run on a grounder to second. The Hawks played from behind all day, falling behind 7-2 and 10-5, but did not allow a Southbury run after the fourth inning with Santore pitching two scoreless innings to pick up the win.

Woodbury 8, Newtown Hawks 2: The Hawks’ comeback magic came to an end as they were eliminated from the Route 84 League tournament by eventual tournament runner-up Woodbury. Playing for a fourth straight day, the Hawks only managed four hits (singles by Peter Clifford, Brandon Hensel and Owen Samson and a double by Geoff Santore) and Woodbury scored in five of the six innings to seize control.  Woodbury went on to reach the championship game, only to fall to Redding.

The Hawks finished the tournament with a 2-2 record, and posted a 9-8-1 overall record this season.