Rangers Capture Town Fall Ball Title

The Rangers won the 13U-15U Newtown Baseball Playoffs with a won over the Indians in the November 2 championship game. Playoff highlights are as follows:

Newtown Rangers 6, Newtown Indians 2: The Rangers won their 11th straight game to capture the town championship Monday night under the lights at Fairfield Hills Field. The Rangers finished the season with a 16-1 record, the best in the Connecticut fall baseball league, and won all three playoff games in the double-elimination tournament among four Newtown teams.

Ryan Pavlicek led the Rangers with three RBIs and pitched three brilliant shutout innings in relief. Teammate Ben Stoller, normally the club’s first baseman, was called on minutes before game time to make a rare start on the pitching mound. Stoller set the tone early for the champions, hurling a shutout first inning and becoming the game winning pitcher. Stoller walked Mike Daubert, struck out the second batter and walked Chris Tenney. With runners on second and third, Stoller retiring the cleanup hitter on a popup to second baseman Brock Chimileski and raced off the mound to catch a foul popup on the third-base side to strand the runners.

In the bottom of the inning, pesky Rangers’ leadoff hitter Max Temple walked, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Jon Hull, who played a gutty game while sick with the flu, walked and stole second. Kyle Wilcox ripped an RBI single through the left-field hole. The pitcher went into a long wind-up and Hull streaked from third to steal home plate just before the catcher’s tag.

Eric Pisani took over the pitching for the Rangers and yielded an unearned run. The Indians’ Ryan Daignault reached on a two-base error, and Alex Romeo drilled an RBI double over the right fielder’s head.

The Rangers increased their lead to 3-1 in the bottom of the second inning. Parker Lintz lined a single to right field and moved to third on two wild pitches. Pavlicek smacked a hard groundball off the third baseman’s glove for an RBI single.

The Indians narrowed the lead to 3-2 in the third inning. Daubert walked and scored from first after Cole Baldino slapped a grounder to third that was thrown over first baseman Stoller’s head. Stoller sprinted to retrieve the ball in right field, threw to catcher Wilcox, but it was too late to nab speedy Daubert. Wilcox alertly pegged the ball to third, and Chimileski made a nice tag on the hustling Baldino, who was sliding into third.

Tenney followed by crushing a long double, and Kaleb Rowe walked. But Pisani struck out the next batter looking, and center fielder John Hampford made a clutch catch to end the inning.

The Rangers made it 4-2 in the bottom of the third inning. Hull walked and went to second on a wild pitch. He raced to third safely when the catcher, Tenney, picked him off second and continued home when the shortstop couldn’t handle the throw. Wilcox followed with a walk but was cut down stealing on a beautiful throw by Tenney.

Pavlicek came on in relief and blanked the opposition in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings. He faced just 11 batters and used a sinking fastball to keep hitters off balance. He struck out three, walked one and yielded a single to Nick Heron and a long double to center field by Tenney. Left fielder Temple made a nice play on Heron’s long drive over his head. Temple sprinted after the ball and, from deep left field, threw a strike to second baseman Chimileski, who tagged out the runner.

The Rangers added two important insurance runs in the fourth inning. Chimileski smacked a single, and Hampford reached on an error by the third baseman. With both runners attempting a double steal, Pavlicek drilled a single to left field. Chimileski scored easily, and lightning-fast Hampford scored all the way from first, sliding into home to just before the catcher’s tag.

Hull took the mound in the final inning. Daignault walked but then Hull battled back. He recorded three straight outs, fielding a comebacker, catching a popup and then striking out the final batter to wrap up the championship.

John Hampford and Ben Stoller have now won the Newtown championship for five consecutive seasons.

Newtown Rangers 17 Newtown Pirates 12: Trailing 8-1, and with their title appearance hopes hanging on a thread, the Rangers exploded for 10 second-inning runs and never looked back in the semifinal game of the double-elimination playoffs at Fairfield Hills Field Saturday afternoon. The win vaulted the Rangers into the championship game, waiting for one of three other Newtown team to emerge from the tourney’s losers’ bracket.

Ben Stoller and Kyle Wilcox each knocked in four runs to lead the Newtown comeback, but it was Parker Lintz who rejuvenated the seemingly lifeless Rangers. The Rangers uncharacteristically committed four errors and walked four batters, and the Pirates’ Justin DeVellis and Sean Dardine ripped singles, to give the Pirates an 8-1 lead. The Rangers’ Brandon Cooper then reached on an error and John Hampford walked before Lintz crushed a long two-run double over the left fielder’s head. Ryan Pavlicek also bombed a double to left field to score Lintz. Four consecutive Rangers’ hitters walked, and Kyle Wilcox slammed a two-run double over third base. Stoller followed by ripping a two-run single to right center. He stole second, went to third when Cooper hit a grounder to third that was misplayed and scored on a wild pitch for the final run of the 10-run inning. Playing without pitcher and shortstop Jon Hull, who had to leave the game in the second inning to attend a cross-country meet, Garrison Buzzanca got on the mound with the bases loaded and put out the fire during the Pirates’  seven-run second inning. Buzzanca followed with two scoreless innings to become the winning pitcher. Leading 11-8, the Rangers scored a run in the fourth inning when Miles LoBuglio, Buzzanca and Wilcox walked, and Stoller was hit by a pitch. In the fifth inning, the Pirates’ Mario Pizighelli walked, stole second and scored on two wild pitches. The Pirates might have scored more, but Rangers catcher Brock Chimileski raced to retrieve a wild pitch and threw to the pitcher, Wilcox, to cut down a runner at home. The Rangers upped the lead to 15-9 in the fifth inning when Ryan Pisani’s fly to left was dropped for a two-base error, Ryan Pavlicek singled and Chimileski drilled a two-RBI single.

In the sixth inning, the Pirates narrowed the lead to 15-10 when Anthony Maki singled, moved to second and third on a passed ball and a fielder’s choice, and scored on a line-drive single to right by Pizighelli. Again, the Pirates might have scored more but catcher Chimileski retrieved a wild pitch and threw to the pitcher Pavlicek to nail a runner at the plate. The Rangers scored their final two runs in the sixth. Max Temple reached on an error, and Wilcox hit a mammoth triple over the left fielder’s head. Stoller hit a deep sacrifice fly to left to knock in Wilcox. The Pirates scored two in the final inning when DeVellis walked and the powerful, fleet-footed Maki cracked a long RBI triple. He scored on a fly ball Dardine that was misplayed by the Rangers’ right fielder. 

Newtown Rangers 7, Newtown Indians 4: Capitalizing on eight walks and the wildness of Indians pitching, the Rangers bounced back from a 2-0 deficit and won their first playoff game last week under the lights at Fairfield Hills Field.

The Indians opened the scoring with two first-inning runs. Mike Daubert walked and stole second and third before Cole Baldino walked. Chris Tenney drove in Daubert with a single, and Baldino scored on an infield single and a passed ball. The Rangers responded by loading the bases on walks by Max Temple and Jon Hull, and a ground single by Kyle Wilcox. Ben Stoller worked a walk to knock in the first run. In the second inning, the Rangers pulled ahead 3-2.  Parker Lintz was hit by a pitch, and Ryan Pisani, Brock Chimileski, Ryan Pavlicek and Eric Pisani drew consecutive walks. In the next inning, Garrison Buzzanca singled and was forced out on fly to right by Temple that was dropped by the right fielder. Temple moved to second on an error, to third on a Wilcox single and scored on a wild pitch. Hull and Eric Pisani pitched strongly, each throwing two shutout innings in the second through the fifth innings. In the bottom of the fifth, Stoller walked, moved to third when Brandon Cooper whacked a long double to right center, and scored on a long sacrifice fly to center by Parker Lintz. Ryan Pisani tomahawked a double down the left-field line to score Cooper and give the Rangers a 6-2 lead. In the sixth inning, Tenney walked for the Indians, moved to third on two balks and scored on an error. The Rangers got the run back in the bottom of the inning when Temple walked, stole second and scored on a Wilcox single through the left-field hole. The Indians got their first four runners on base in the final inning, thanks to singles by Greg Horne and Nick Heron, a walk to Ryan Daignault and a grounder by Alex Romeo that was booted by Cooper, the Rangers’ third baseman. But the rally was short-circuited when catcher Chimileski cut down a runner trying to steal third, and Cooper made up for the miscue by fielding a sharp grounder, stepping on third and firing to first baseman Stoller for a game-ending double play.

In regular season action this past week, the Rangers defeated New Milford 13-7. Led by three hits by Ben Stoller and two hits each by Jon Hull and Brandon Cooper, the Rangers pounded 12 hits. The Rangers jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning lead on walks to Max Temple and Jon Hull, singles by Stoller and Cooper, and sacrifice flies by Kyle Wilcox and Parker Lintz. The local club scored three more in the second inning on walks to John Hampford and Ryan Pavlicek, an RBI single by Mike Newman, a long RBI double to right field by Hull and an RBI grounder by Temple. In the fifth inning, the Rangers scored five more. Pavlicek reached second when his fly ball was dropped by the New Milford center fielder, Miles LoBuglio singled and Temple crushed a two-RBI double to left center. Hull knocked in a run with an RBI single, Wilcox reached on an error, Stoller singled and Cooper drove in a run with a bases-loaded walk. New Milford got back in the game in the fifth inning, scoring five runs on numerous walks and wild pitches to narrow Newtown’s lead to 11-7.

With the bases loaded, Stoller came in to pitch and got the Rangers out of a jam, retiring his first batter on a comebacker to the mound. He retired the side in order in the sixth inning and pitched a scoreless, but dramatic, seventh inning to get the save. After New Milford loaded the bases with none out in the seventh, Stoller retired one batter on a fly ball to Hampford, who threw a strike to home plate to hold the runner at third. The next batter ripped a ball up the middle that was gloved by Stoller. He wheeled and threw to shortstop Hull, who tagged the runner and threw to Newman at first for the game-ending double play.