Newtown 9-Year-Olds Fall Short In New England Regional Tourney

After winning its first two games against the Massachusetts and Rhode Island state champions, Newtown faced Exeter, N.H., in the New England Regional Tournament for 9-year-old baseball. Newtown scored one in the first and two more in the second inning to tie the game at 3 after two.

The offense was led by a single and a triple by Connor Barrett and singles by Lucas O’Brien, Ben Harrison, and Will Huegi and a double by R.H. Clark.

Newtown struggled defensively in the third inning, giving up four runs to Exeter. Newtown scored one more in the third and fifth inning on singles by Ben Dieckman and Adam Bergeron. Exeter won the game by a final score of 16-6.

This loss put Newtown in the finals of the loser’s bracket, which followed the Exeter game.

The second game of the evening was against Wrentham, Mass. Wrentham lost it first game of the tournament against Exeter and then won three in a row to reach the finals of the loser’s bracket. Connor Barrett led of the bottom of the first inning with a double and was scored by another double by Jason Hebner.

Unfortunately, that was all the offense Newtown was able to muster in the first three innings. In the top of the second inning, Newtown walked two Wrentham batters followed by three singles and a triple by Wrentham to score six runs. Despite doubles by Ben Harrison and Lucas O’Brien and singles by Spencer Burden, Jason Hebner, and Connor Barrett, Newtown was not able to generate much more offense. Wrentham won the game by a final score of 13-4.

Although the season did not end the way the Newtown would have hoped, it was a very successful season. After getting the Wild Card to enter the State Tournament, Newtown ran off four straight wins to capture the Connecticut state title and then won two more impressive games in the Regionals in Dover, N.H., before running out of steam.