CHESHIRE - Perhaps it was an omen from Zeus, the Greek god of rain.
CHESHIRE â Perhaps it was an omen from Zeus, the Greek god of rain.
The Newtown Hawks 12-and-under travel team needed to get by the Cheshire Wildcats â a team the Hawks had beaten twice already â to reach the Central Valley Fastpitch League championship game and everyone pretty much expected them to do just that.
After the Hawks shut down Cheshire 1-2-3 in the top of the first and then opened the bottom of the frame with the single, a quick and heavy rainstorm flooded the Cheshire High School field and made it unplayable.
The semi-final game was moved to Highland School just down the road, but in the process of picking up and moving there the Hawks had lost whatever momentum they had built up and went on to suffer a 2-0 loss.
The Hawks finished the 2003 season at 21-5. Dave Broughton, Jim Robertson and Dawson Newberry coached the team.
The Hawks went through the CVFL regular season unscathed, making them the No. 1 seed for the round robin portion of the tournament. The Hawks then defeated Bethel (10-2), the Prospect Power (24-1), Fairfield Blaze (18-0), and Watertown Rapids (7-0) to reach the semi-finals.
In the championship game, Elissa Robertson and Kelly Tenney both singled in the firstinning, with Robertson singling again in the third inning. However, the game remained scoreless through that point.
Cheshire scored twice in the fourth off a walk, a double and a sacrifice to take the 2-0 lead. While the Hawks failed to score themselves, they did keep the Wildcats from doing any further damage with some fine defensive plays in the fifth inning ⦠a fielderâs choice play at the plate (Robertson at second to Nora Lynn Shimko at the plate) and a tag out at the plate on a passed ball (Shimko to pitcher Jenna LeGros).
In the sixth inning, Cheshire rapped out another hit, but failed to score. In the seventh inning the Wildcats hit into an unassisted double play (Katie Schmidt made the catch and the tag at third base) to get them out of the inning. The Hawks then made a good effort to come back in their half of the seventh, but Schmidt hit a long one to center that was caught and walks to Stacy Broughton, Joanna Barry and Shimko went for naught.
On the mound, LeGros had allowed just three hits with two walks and three strikeouts. On defense, Tenney made two unassisted and eight assisted outs while Robertson and Schmidt both made two unassisted and two assisted put outs.
In win against Bethel, the Hawks scored three in the first inning and then came alive in the fourth to score seven more. Melissa Fracker went 2-for-3 with two singles and two RBI. Robertson, Tenney, Broughton, Schmidt, Barry, Jax Van Waalwijk, and LeGros each hit a single and Megan Sajovic contributed with a sacrifice fly that brought in a run. Sajovic had a good day on the mound, pitching a one hitter while striking out eight batters in five innings. She also made a diving catch for a pop up and turned it into a double play to firstbase. Defensively, Tenney had four assists.
The Hawks overpowered the Prospect Power, collecting 17 hits in just four innings. Each player on the team crossed the plate at least once. Schmidt went 3-for-4 with two singles and a triple while Tenney doubled twice and drove in six runs. Van Waalwijk doubled while Laura Newberry, Fracker and Barry hit two singles apiece. Robertson, Sajovic, Kaila Harrington, Shimko and LeGros all had singles. Legros pitched a great game, allowing just two hits with three walks and eight strikeouts.
In the win over the Blaze, Sajovic fired a two-hit shutout with five strikeouts. Defensively, Tenney had one unassisted putout and five assists at first base while Fracker had a great put out at first from right field and Barry (third base) made a big play in the last inning by throwing out the runner going home. Broughton went 3-for-3 with three singles and three RBI to spark the offense. Robertson went 2- for-2 with two singles and two RBI and Tenney doubled in two runs. Van Waalwijk, Harrington, and Nicole Alberico all had two-run singles. Legros and Schmidt also contributed with a single each.
In the five-inning shutout of Watertown, LeGros fired a one-hitter with seven strikeouts. Fracker went 2-for-3 with a double and a single. Tenney, Sajovic and Shimko added singles. In right field, Fracker made a fantastic catch on the foul line while Legros made two outs at first and Barry (3B) and Shimko (C) picked up bunts and made the put outs at first base.