By Kim J. Harmon

Flipping the calendar from August to September – that’s when fall really begins for most people and not 23 days later on the autumnal equinox.

But before anyone has a chance to do that, why not sit back and savor the wonderful memories of an incredibly successful summer youth sports season?

Tournament titles.

District titles.

State titles.

New England titles.

Newtown had all of that stuff and so much more in a whirlwind summer of 2003 that didn’t fully wrap up until just couple of weeks ago, when the Newtown Babe Ruth Baseball 9- and 11-year-old All Star teams captured New England Regional championships with powerful offenses that simply WOWed people in Massachusetts (where the 9s played) and New Hampshire (where the 11s played).

The 9-year-olds lost just two games all summer – an amazing accomplishment. After losing the first game of the summer in the Bethel Tournament, the nines breezed through the District 5 Tournament and the State Tournament. They did not lose until the second game of the New England Regionals but – by that time – nothing was going to slow the Blaze down.

When the 11s headed to New Hampshire, they were carrying some big lumber. But even so, their long home runs over deeper-than-normal fences had a lot of eyes bugging out and a lot of jaws flapping.

And then there was the Newtown Babe Ruth Baseball 10-year-old All Star team (which won a New England Regional championship in 2002 as a 9-year-old team). It reached the New England Regional championship, as well, and came within one win in West Warwick, Rhode Island, of qualifying for the Cal Ripken World Series in Virginia.

Now that would have been something.

On the smaller field, it was a season of ‘almosts’ for the Newtown Babe Ruth Softball All Stars.

As in, almost champions.

The 10-year-old All Star team almost won another Connecticut Babe Ruth State Championship, but finished runner-up to Stamford. That qualified the Hawks for another trip to the New England Regionals (in New Hampshire), where they quickly lost a pair. The Hawks would go on to finish third at the Central Valley Fastpitch League tournament.

The 12-year-old All Stars almost won a Connecticut Babe Ruth State Championship of its own, but dropped a 9-0 decision to Stamford in the finals. The Hawks would go on to finish 14-1 in the Central Valley Fastpitch League and earn the top seed for the tournament, but a loss to Cheshire in the semi-finals ended their season.

The 14-year-old All Stars came within a win of capturing a Connecticut Babe Ruth State Championship – almost – but a loss to Norwalk stood in the way. The Hawks would go on to the CVFL tournament, but their run ended in the quarterfinals.

And then there was the 14-and-under Newtown Heat – who finished 11-4-1 in the CVFL, took second place in an early summer New Jersey Tournament, played in the Regionals and advanced to the ASA Nationals. The Heat lost to Beacon Falls in the semis of the CVFL tournament.

Lots of almosts.

But – nevertheless – it was still a full and amazingly productive summer for Newtown youth sports.

Can it get much better than that?