Lightning Cap Off Winning Campaign

A successful season had a tough ending for the Newtown Lightning summer travel baseball team.

After clinching the regular-season title, the Lightning tuned up for the playoffs by pasting Amity 20-0 in a non-league game to improve to 15-3. The Lightning, however, dropped playoff games to New Milford and Aspetuck – two teams they had beaten in a combined seven of eight games during the regular season. New Milford, which had finished in last place, went on to beat Pomperaug, the No. 2 seed in the playoffs, for the championship. Here are the results of the Lightning’s final three games:

Lightning 20, Amity Hurricanes 0: Lightning pitchers John Lebinski, Ben Stoller and Michael Scharfenberg combined to throw a two-hit shutout with seven strikeouts in the six inning game in which Newtown pounded out 15 hits at Sandy Hook’s Walnut Tree Field. The lopsided score was a big surprise because the Amity team had earlier defeated Amity’s district team,  a top Babe Ruth League team in Connecticut. The Lightning offense was led by Mike LoBosco, John Lebinski and Scharfeberg, each of whom had three hits. Scharfenberg had the biggest day of his three-year travel career at the plate, knocking in five runs. LoBosco and Stoller each reached base in all four at-bats, with LoBosco scoring four runs and Stoller driving in two. John Hampford and Lebinski also drove in two runs each, and Tyler Gibney, Jack Champagne, Dean Baye and Mario Pizighelli each scored twice. The Lightning defense was solid with Ryan Daignault making nifty plays at second base and Champagne tracking fly balls in center field.

New Milford 9 Lightning 3: The Lightning fell behind 4-0 and scored two runs in the bottom of the second inning after John Hampford reached on an error and Mario Pizighelli walked and scored on RBI groundouts by Collin Hall and Dean Baye. The Lightning’s final run scored when Pat Thornberg, who batted over .500 and was the team’s top hitter during the season, rapped a single, stole second and scored on an RBI single by Mike Scharfenberg, who finished the season by batting better than .400. The biggest highlight of the game for the Lightning, though, was center fielder Jack Champagne’s headlong dive to catch a ball about two feet off the ground to rob a New Milford batter in the seventh inning.

Aspetuck 14 Newtown Lightning 9: Lightning pitching was hit hard as Aspetuck pounded out 18 hits. The Lightning, which had to play without three starting players who were unavailable for the game, battled back from an 11-3 deficit with four sixth-inning runs. Ryan Daignault and Tyler Gibney walked. After Kyler Harmeling hit into a force out, Mike Scharfenberg and Jack Champagne singled and Gibney and Champagne scored on errors. Ben Stoller drove in Harmeling  with a bases-loaded walk and John Lebinski singled to score Scharfenberg. Hot-hitting Scharfenberg finished the game with three hits, and Gibney and Champagne had two hits each.