By Kim J. Harmon

RUSSELLVILLE, Arkansas – The dream ended four games shy of a 2005 Cal Ripken World Series championship, but it ended with the Newtown Bombers fighting.

Facing a 10-1 deficit against a strong team from Okeheelee, Florida, on Tuesday night the Bombers did not go down quietly, but instead posted six runs to keep themselves alive and in the hunt.

But it wasn’t enough and with a 13-7 loss the Bombers’ dream of a World Series title has ended.

It was a dramatic tournament for the local 10-year-old All Stars, who opened with a 14-3 win over Jonesboro, Arkansas, and – after an 8-2 loss to Kenner, Louisiana – out-slugged Lynden, Washington, 16-10 to set up the match with Okeheelee.

A Good Start

Pitcher J.D. Rainwater has a great baseball name and a reputation for great stuff on the mound, but Newtown’s Reid Schmidt took the first pitch he saw from Rainwater, ripped a single, and sent the Bombers on their way to a mercy-shortened 14-3 win over Jonesboro, Arkansas, in the opener of the 2005 Cal Ripken World Series.

“Reid is an instinctive leadoff batter,” said assistant coach Ron Schmidt, “but we heard this kid threw hard and had a nice curve and so we told the kids to look for something good early in the count.”

The Bombers got to Rainwater early – and often – and collected 10 hits while breaking open a relatively close game with an eight-run fourth inning. Colton Sposta got the start, but Jon Hull finished the game off with two innings of one-hit ball.

“I wanted to get on the board first,” said manager Tim Braun. “We had batting practice this morning and my main concern was getting the kids ready to hit.”

Oh, they were ready. While Dan Poeltl, Gary Braun and Schmidt rapped out two hits each, David Gerics had the best night of all, going 3-for-3 with a pair of doubles (the only extra base hits for the Bombers) and two RBI.

“When you’re up at the plate in the World Series, it’s a special feeling,” said Gerics, “and I was just looking for something I liked.”

Schmidt led off with a single and advanced to third when Poeltl reached second on an error. After Dean Demers lined out to second, Braun banged out a two-run single to put the Bombers ahead, 2-0. Jonesboro got one of those runs back in the bottom of the frame when Sebastian Staggs tripled and scored on single.

In the second, Gerics started things off with a one-out single, advanced to third on a two-base error, and scored on a passed ball. Hull and Schmidt worked out back-to-back free passes, advanced to second and third on wild pitches, and then scored on a two-run single by Demers.

Demers later scored on a two-base error that arose off a Braun single.

Jonesboro refused to go away, though, and scored two runs in the bottom of the frame. A walk, a hit batsmen, a passed ball and a wild pitch led to the first run and a single by Staggs led to the second run. The only thing that kept the inning from getting worse was a nifty relay from Schmidt to Gerics to Braun which caught Staggs trying to turn his single into a double.

The Bombers’ 6-3 lead held through the fourth inning, but the locals exploded for eight runs in the top of the fourth to put the game away.

Schmidt reached on an error; Poeltl singled; Demers, Braun and Chad Magoulas were issued walks, and Gerics came though with a two-out, two-run double. Besides simply hitting the baseball hard, the Bombers also ran hard and took the extra base whenever the smallest sliver of opportunity appeared.

“Ron is a phenomenal third base coach,” said first base coach Josh Hull. “He has an instinctive way of pushing for that extra base.”

Jonesboro went quietly in the bottom of the fourth and the game – thanks to the 10-run mercy rule – was over.

While the gravity of the situation seemed to affect Jonesboro (the North Arkansas state champions) a little bit, the Bombers were loose and ready to play.

“We got a loose bunch,” said Braun. “I knew they were loose when they were breakdancing in the dugout before the game.”

The First Loss

The Bombers were still loose the following night, but were unable to get to hard-throwing Kyle Ray of Kenner, Louisiana.

“That was a quality team out there,” said Braun. “The guys held on, but errors cost us.”

The Bombers collected just four hits, committed three errors (leading to three unearned runs) and dropped an 8-2 decision to Kenner. The loss dropped the Bombers into the Loser’s Bracket and opened up the prospect of a long, hard road to the World Series championship.

Kenner took a 1-0 lead in the top of the first with a leadoff double, a single and a sacrifice fly. But the Bombers avoided any further damage when Poeltl induced two popouts to end the threat. Sposta relieved in the second and pitched a scoreless frame before the Bombers tied the game in the bottom of the inning.

Braun led off with a single and advanced to third on a long double by Andrew Kelley. After Sposta earned a free pass to load the bases, Joe Davis’ grounder to third led to a forceout at home. But Gerics’ infield grounder to second scored Kelley with the tying run.

Missing out on an opportunity to break open the game hurt the Bombers as Kenner drilled a couple of doubles and scored three runs in the top of the third to take a 4-1 lead. The Bombers hung close, but banged out just one hit over the next two innings and – despite loading the bases in the fifth – couldn’t push a run across.

Then, in the top of the sixth, Kenner put the game away with four runs as Mitchell Alexander (3-for-3 with a pair of doubles) rapped out a two-run single.

The Bombers were down, but weren’t about to go out without a bang. With two outs, Magoulas took a 2-1 pitch from Ray and belted a 235-foot home run over the left-centerfield fence to give the local fans one last chance to cheer.

It was the first out-of-the-park homer in the 2005 Series.

But before the ball was even found in the bushes behind the fence, the Bombers were figuring out ways to rebound.

“We’ll continue to stress what we have always stressed,” said Braun. “We want to stay loose and play the way we know we can.”

Staying Alive

If there were any lingering affects two days later, the Bombers (many of them fresh off a morning fishing trip) quickly put them aside with an 11-run second inning and a grueling, 16-10 win over Lynden, Washington.

Kelley went 3-for-4 and Hull went 2-for-3 while Braun ripped a double to fuel an 11-hit attack.

Lynden, which fell into the Loser’s Bracket with a loss to Lexington, Kentucky, took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first but the Bombers exploded for 11 runs in the second inning off Lynden starter Tanner Olsen to take an 11-1 lead.

A 10-run lead begs for the mercy rule, but Lynden scored four times in the bottom of the third and then – down 16-6 after the Bombers put four more runs up on the board – scored four times in the bottom of the fifth to make sure the game went the distance.

The two teams combined for 20 hits in the three-hour affair and when it was over Lynden was making plans to head back to Washington.

All Over

The run for a World Series championship came to an end on Tuesday night with a 13-7 loss to Okeheelee, Florida.

Okeheelee – which banged out 17 hits on the night – jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning. The teams were scoreless through the second and third innings before Okeheelee added another run in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead.

The Bombers answered back in the bottom of the frame with a run of their own, but Okeheelee appeared to put the game away with a six-run explosion in the top of the fifth. Not so fast – Newtown responded with six runs of their own in the bottom of the frame to trim the Florida team’s lead to 10-7.

But Okeheelee added three more runs in the top of the sixth to really put the game away. Ian Hagenmiller powered Okeheelee by going 5-for-5 with three doubles and four runs scored. Tommy Amburgey went 4-for-5.

Poeltl went 3-for-4 at the plate for the Bombers, who collected nine hits on the night.