SOUTHBURY – There’s dominating and then there’s DOMINATING.

With easy wins over Burlington, Massachusetts (10-0), Cranston, Rhode Island (9-4), and Keene, New Hampshire (11-0), the Newtown Blaze 11-year-old All Star team is on the verge of winning its third consecutive New England Regional championship.

It may be the first time in Babe Ruth baseball history that has happened.

The Blaze were set for the championship game(s) on Thursday afternoon and were awaiting the winner of the Southbury-New Hampshire game on Wednesday night. The winner of that game would have to defeat the Blaze twice in order to win the title.

But the Blaze may be too powerful.

Chris Tenney has set the tone for the club by belting two, first-inning grand slams – one against Burlington and the other against Keene. Curtis Droniak and Ryan Tita have also homered in the tournament.

“This looks like a team that could go to Aberdeen (for the 12-year-old World Series) and make some noise,” said manager Bill Kneisel. “The kids have just dominated.”

The locals opened with a 10-0 win over Burlington in which Oliver Powers and Droniak combined on a three-hitter with 10 strikeouts. Tenney’s grand slam in the first started the offense moving as Sean Burson collected three hits and Ryan Powers, Austin Bonadio, Oliver Powers, Tita and Jack Kneisel all banged out hits.

In a 9-4 win over Cranston, the Blaze started a little slow but scored twice in the second to get things going. They had the opportunity to break things open twice, but couldn’t come up with the big hit until exploding for four runs in the top of the fifth. Bonadio, Tita and Dom Fedak pitched two innings each and limited Cranston to four hits.

In the 11-0 win over Keene, Tita rapped three hits and ended the affair with a two-run, walk-off homer (invoking the mercy rule) in the fifth. Droniak pitched three flawless innings while Tita and Burson each pitched an inning to secure the shutout. Burson, Ryan Powers, Will Arndt, Bonadio and Sean Ross all contributed hits in the win.

Last year, the Blaze traveled to Vincennes, Indiana, for the 2004 Cal Ripken World Series and won two games before finally being eliminated.

12s Stopped In Regionals

WINCHESTER, Massachusetts – A 6-3 loss to Marblehead, Massachusetts in the opener of the 12-year-old New England Regional put Newtown into a tough hole.

But it was a hole the locals very nearly crawled out of.

Wins over Rhode Island (8-0),  Maine (13-0), Winchester (5-1) and New Hamshire (13-0) set the locals up for a return engagement against Marblehead in the Regional finals.

In a thriller, Newtown won the first game of the champion series, 10-9, forcing the do-or-die final, but didn’t have enough left in the tank and dropped a 7-2 decision.

So it will be Marblehead, Massachusetts heading off to Aberdeen, Maryland this weekend for the Cal Ripken 12-year-old World Series.