DANBURY - The summer season might not have started out so well for the Newtown Babe Ruth 9-year-old All Stars, but it has gotten a lot better. After losing two games in a row in the Bethel Tournament, the Newtown 9s not only captured a title in the
DANBURY â The summer season might not have started out so well for the Newtown Babe Ruth 9-year-old All Stars, but it has gotten a lot better. After losing two games in a row in the Bethel Tournament, the Newtown 9s not only captured a title in the Danbury Tournament but are also on the verge of reaching the Jimmy Fund championship in Brookfield.
Newtown opened the Danbury tournament with an 8-4 win over Bethel (Jeff Spencer keyed the offense) and a 12-6 win over West Norwalk (Kyle Kromberg had a pair of hits). Newtown then rolled over Brookfield, 11-1, as Ryan Cahalane pitched well and George Zaruba and Ralph Sergiovanni sparked the offense. Wins over Bethwood (11-1) and Southbury (10-3) followed as Michael Coates and Joe Fedak shut down the opponents. Coates, Kromberg and Nicky Tarantino led the offense.
The roll came to an abrupt end, though, with a 9-6 loss to Danbury. But Newtown still clung to the top seed with a 5-1 record. And in the semi-finals, Newtown routed West Norwalk, 13-0, as Keith McGrath, Anthony Gruce and Kyle OâConnor had key hits in an explosive third inning.
Arch-rival Danbury awaited Newtown in the finals and while the defenses both turned in good plays, it was the Newtown offense which took charge by scoring seven times in the first inning. Fedak and Spencer threw several shutout innings while Jeff DiNicola, Adam Wenick and Ryan Murphy sparked the offense. Tyler Edwards turned in a defensive gem in the sixth inning, ranging deep in the hole at shortstop to grab a bounding ball before firing a one-hop strike to Sergiovanni at first.
So, with that trophy in hand, Newtown headed on over to Brookfield to participate in the Jimmy Fund Tournament. A sixth-inning, come-from-behind win over Southbury started the tournament and was followed by dominating wins over New Milford (11-4) and Bethwood (14-1).
That set the stage for a Sunday clash with Bethel. Taking a 3-3 tie into the bottom of the sixth, McGrath lashed a hard single to right. On the next pitch, Sergiovanni belted the ball into the left-centerfield gap and McGrath raced around the bases to score the winning run.
Redding was next on the list for the Newtown 9s.