One-Eyed Cats Compete In State Tournament

The Newtown One-Eyed Cats played in the Cal Ripken State Tournament for 10 year olds in Bethel last week. They won their first two games against Brookfield and Bethel, but then fell to Danbury and Bethel to finish third in the tournament, one win shy of qualifying for the New England Regionals. Game results are as follows:

Newtown 13, Brookfield 10: In the first round game, Newtown jumped out to a 9-2 lead after two innings. Brookfield fought back to take a 10-9 lead in the fifth inning. In the bottom of the fifth, singles by Aidan Moulder, James Doyle, Dan Mason, Todd Petersen, and Luke Barrett helped the Cats to claw back into the lead. Winning pitcher Bryan Vander Have retired Brookfield 1-2-3 in the sixth to earn the victory. Vander Have was 2-for-3 with a 3 RBI double. Jack Mulligan was also 2-for-3 with 3 RBI, and Michael Cotton was 2-for-4 with 2 runs scored. Tyler Fuori gave up one earned run in three innings on the mound, and the defense turned a 6-4-3 double play (Barrett to Cotton to Petersen).

Newtown 10, Bethel 3: In the second round game, Newtown jumped out to an early lead and never looked back, playing a flawless game to send the 2011 New England Regional champions to the loser’s bracket. The Cats were aggressive from the start, bunting often and pounding out 17 hits while the pitchers allowed only three hits. Jack Mulligan was the hitting star, going 3-for-4 with 5 RBI.  Aidan Moulder was 2-for-2 with 2 RBI, Dan Mason was 2-for-2, Todd Petersen was 2-for-3 with an RBI, Luke Barrett was 2-for-5 and scored 3 runs, and Shea Talbot was 2-for-4 with an RBI. Winning pitcher Shea Talbot pitched 3 effective innings, leaving with an 8-3 lead. Bryan Vander Have pitched 3 innings of shutout ball for the save.

Danbury 14, Newtown 3: In the winner’s bracket final, Newtown and Danbury played a closer game than the score indicated with Danbury scoring 10 runs in the sixth inning. After Danbury scored 2 in the first, Michael Cotton walked and Todd Petersen lined a single to put two men on in the bottom of the first. But Luke Barrett’s scalding line drive was speared by pitcher Javon Hernandez who struck out the next two batters to end the threat. Shea Talbot pitched the first two innings, striking out 5.  Aidan Moulder came on in relief and struck out 4. Danbury scored 2 more in the fourth to take a 4-0 lead.  In the bottom of the fourth, Newtown rallied for 3 runs, highlighted by Todd Petersen’s two-out, two- run single. Bryan Vander Have came in to pitch and retired Danbury 1-2-3 in the fifth, and Newtown threatened again when with one out, Vander Have scorched a liner that the third baseman caught and then threw to first to double off the runner to keep the score at 4-3. In the top of the sixth, a walk, triple, three more walks, and two errors let the inning get away from Newtown and Danbury got a few more add-on hits to score 10 runs to put the game away to advance to the championship round.

Bethel 2, Newtown 0: Bethel fought back through the loser’s bracket to face Newtown again – with larger stakes this time – the winner would be the Connecticut representative in the New England Regional tournament in late July (Danbury received an automatic invitation as host). This game featured a very large strike zone – only 2 walks were issued in the entire game, so runs were very rare because each team only managed five hits. Newtown’s Shea Talbot and Bethel’s Noah Jensen both pitched four efficient innings, with Bethel scoring two unearned runs in the third inning. Newtown’s best opportunity came in the fifth when Bryan Vander Have doubled and Tyler Fuori singled and advanced to second on a wild pitch, giving Newtown runners on second and third with no outs. But, Bethel relief pitcher Justin Amendola got out of the inning with two strikeouts and a pop up. Vander Have pitched two strong innings in relief for Newtown, and the Cats turned a 5-4-3 double play (Doyle to Cotton to Petersen) in support. But in the last inning, the Cats could only muster a single by Luke Barrett as Amendola secured the save and the Regional birth for Bethel. Newtown’s record stands at 12-7 as the team continues play in the Route 84 league through the end of July.