By Kim J. Harmon

RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – Even though it didn’t come with a win attached, Chad Magoulas nevertheless made a dream come true.

With two outs in the bottom of the sixth against the team from Kenner, Louisiana, last Saturday night Magoulas – known as Magoo to everyone on the team – smashed a 2-1 offering from Kyle Ray over the left-centerfield fence for a home run.

The Newtown Bombers, a little over 24 hours removed from a 14-3 win over Jonesboro, Arkansas, were down 8-1 when Magoo stepped to the plate and all the homer really did was cut the deficit to 8-2. But it’s impact on the crowd was electric.

What a shot!

The kid from Kenner had been throwing smoke for six innings and “breaking” the Newtown bats, but on his 2-1 pitch to Magoo took a little off and left it up in the zone. The outfielder got around on the toss and sent it soaring into the Arkansas sky.

As soon as it was struck, it was gone.

“I don’t know what (kind of pitch) it was,” said Magoulas. “I was just looking for something to hit.”

Magoulas first stepped into the batter’s box in the fourth inning, pinch-hitting for pitcher/infielder Colton Sposta, and grounded out to second base as the Bombers went down one-two-three for the second inning in a row and with just two hits to their credit.

When Magoulas stepped back up to the plate with two outs in the sixth, the Bombers still had just the two hits (one of those was a long double by Andrew Kelley) and were on the verge of being sent into the Loser’s Bracket.

Magoulas postponed it for one exciting moment, though.

“I hit a homer in Districts (this year),” said Magoulas, “but that was on a shorter fence.”

The standard Babe Ruth field is 200 feet and MJ Hickey Field (No. 6) was 210 feet, but Magoulas made all of that academic as his shot measured out at 235 feet.

It was a bomb.