After streaking to a 12-1 regular season record, the Newtown Maroon 12 swept four straight playoff games to secure the 10/11 fall baseball championship.
After streaking to a 12-1 regular season record, the Newtown Maroon 12 swept four straight playoff games to secure the 10/11 fall baseball championship.
The Turkeys had raced out to a 7-1 record when they lost their leading hitter and top pitcher, Pat Mullins, to season-ending surgery from a football injury to his shoulder. At the time of his injury, Mullins was batting .800 with 23 RBIs and had 43 strikeouts in 18 innings pitched.
But the Turkeys flocked together and ran off five straight wins to close the regular season with an impressive 12-1 record.
In the first round of the playoffs, the Turkeysâ bats were gobbling loud with a 15-hit attack in a 15-5 win. Jimmy Parker led the way with four hits as Vikram Makayee had three hits. Max Lopez collected a pair of doubles and drove in three runs while Jake Simonson had a key RBI-single.
Parker also threw two innings of shutout ball with four strikeouts.
The second round of the playoffs saw a very different game played. In the bottom of the third, the Maroon boys were trailing, 2-0, but with one out and two men on base and a 3-0 count, Brock Chimileski drove a long two-run double to centerfield to tie the game. Chimileski came around on a fielderâs choice by Greg Grasso to score the lead and eventual winning run.
The Turkeys held on for the victory behind the clutch pitching of Bobby Archiere, who struck out the side in both the fifth and sixth innings. Defensive plays by Rhett Ehnot and Sean Riley helped the cause.
Game three brought a new group of heroes to the forefront.
The Turkeys prevailed, 7-4, and leading the way was Forest Speed with two hits and two RBIs. Archiere had a two-run double and Simonson scored two runs. Parker led the pitching effort with two shutout innings.
The win brought the Turkeys to the championship game at Glander #1. Again, different players stepped up their game as Lopez had a ground-rule double and two runs scored, Chimileski was 3-for-3, and Josh Krapf was 2-for-2 with two RBI and a ground-rule double in the 5-3 victory.
Parker and Archiere both pitched two shutout innings for the winners.
With Mullins at the top, the leading hitters included Parker (.500), Archiere (.473), Grasso (.375), Speed (.359), Makayee (.352), Lopez (.351), Krapf (.350) and Chimileski (.333). As Mullins drove in 23 runs in eight games, Makayee knocked in 16 as Lopez and Krapf drove in 13 runs apiece.