They walked the ragged edge of disaster and lived to tell the tale.

The Newtown Babe Ruth Baseball 10-year-old All Stars were on the verge of seeing a Cal Ripken State Championship slip through their fingers in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings against West Norwalk on Sunday, but the Blaze held off all three threats and won it all in the top of the seventh, 2-0, to earn a second consecutive trip to the New England Regionals.

“It was the most amazing 10-year-old baseball game I’d ever seen,” said manager Bill Kneisel.

In the bottom of the fourth, West Norwalk put runners on the corners and with two outs attempted a double steal, but a cool throw from the mound to second base notched the third out and ended the threat.

In the bottom of the fifth, West Norwalk loaded the bases with just one out. But a frozen rope line drive was nabbed in the hole between third base and short for the second out and a stunning play by Jack Kneisel at first (scooping a throw off the bag and reaching the base before the runner) ended that threat.

And in the bottom of the sixth, West Norwalk led off with a double and soon put the runner on third. Oliver Powers – pressed into service as a catcher – allowed a pitch by Dominick Fedak to slip through his legs. The game would have been over, but Powers raced back to the ball and threw a strike to Fedak covering the plate to erase that threat.

Now it was Newtown’s turn, although Kneisel knew it would be tough to break through.

“We had three kids thrown out at home plate already on amazing plays,” he said.

Austin Bonadio tripled to lead off the top of the seventh inning and, on a one-out grounder by Sean Burson, beat the throw home to give Newtown a 1-0 lead. Burson went to second on the throw and later scored on a two-out double by Ryan Tita.

“There was one amazing play after another,” Kneisel marveled.

The Blaze reached the state tournament finals with a 15-5 win over Brookfield on Wednesday. Coming out of the loser’s bracket, had West Norwalk somehow defeated Newtown on Sunday, it still would have had to beat Newtown once more to earn the title.

The Blaze opens the New England Regionals on Saturday at 1 pm against Vermont.

Bombers Win

District Title

With six straight wins – the last, a one-run doozy of a thriller – the Newtown Babe Ruth Baseball 9-year-old All Stars captured a District 5 Championship and will open State Tournament action this weekend.

The Districts were held at Liberty and Glander Fields.

The Bombers opened the tournament with a 10-0 shellacking of Southbury. Dan Poeltl and Jon Hull combined on the one-hit shutout, with Poeltl fanning five over two innings and Hull facing the minimum six batters over his two innings of work.

The Bombers were held scoreless over the first two innings, only managing a single by Stephan Hennessy, but broke through for two runs in the third and erupted for eight more in the fourth. Hull and Poeltl got the offense rolling by drawing successive walks to start the third and scored on a double by Gary Braun and a single by Andrew Kelly.

David Gerics singled to start the fourth and then with two outs, Poeltl singled, Braun hit his second double, Kelly tripled, Reid Schmidt and Nick Barreto drew walks, Dean Demers singled, Gerics singled for his second hit of the inning, Colton Sposta drew a walk and Hull completed the eight run outburst by driving in the final run with a single.

A 19-0 pounding of Bridgeport kept the Bombers moving along in the next round. Newtown raced to a 14-0 lead after the first inning and sent the crowd home early again, winning 19-0 after four innings. First inning hits by Poeltl, Gerics, Sposta, Hull, Braun, Kelly, Schmidt, Barreto, Demers (double), and Gerics (triple) caused most of the damage.

Newtown added a run in the second after Poeltl singled and eventually scored on several Bridgeport errors. Two more runs scored in the third on singles by Demers, Sposta, Chad Magoulas, Hennessy and Kelly and a sacrifice fly by Dylan O’Connor. Poeltl, Sposta and Kelly combined on the four inning one-hitter and Magoulas made a great catch on a ball hit to left field in the fourth.

The Bombers’ second meeting with Southbury was not as easy as the first, with the locals coming from behind (twice) to capture a 5-4 win.

Schmidt and Barreto got things rolling in the third with two walks and were eventually brought in to score on a clutch two-out single by Gerics, erasing a 1-0 Southbury lead. Southbury tied the game in the third and went up by two runs in the fourth, but Newtown came back with a run in the fourth as Hennessy led off with a single and was moved to third on a hard hit double by O’Connor. Magoulas walked to load the bases and Hull drove in Hennessy with a bases loaded walk.

Schmidt doubled with one out in the fifth and was brought home on another single by Hennessy. O’Connor and Magoulas drew walks and Hennessy scored on another bases loaded walk to Hull as Newtown took the lead for good.

Gerics (second base) made a key defensive play in the fifth snaring a sinking liner in short right field that would have scored the fifth run for Southbury and Braun (first base) made two nice plays in the sixth inning, including a diving catch of a foul ball to end the game.

On the mound, Poeltl, Sposta, Magoulas and Hull combined for the win.

In the final game of the qualifying round, Newtown defeated a much more poised Bridgeport team, 11-4. The Bombers were led at the plate by O’Connor (single, double, two runs), Magoulas (double), Hennessy (two singles), Sposta (two walks, two runs) and Demers (two singles). On the mound, Braun, Schmidt, Kelly and Gerics each pitched a scoreless inning and combined to notch seven strikeouts.

In the best two-out-of-three championship series, the Bombers opened with an easy 16-6 win.

The locals raced out to a 4-0 lead after the first inning on RBI hits by Schmidt, Hennessy, and O’Connor, but fell behind 5-4 in the top of the second after some sloppy play in the field. Undeterred, the Bombers put three more runs on the board in the bottom of the frame as Poeltl and Braun walked, Kelly singled driving in Poeltl, and Schmidt singled driving in Braun. Kelly eventually scored the third run on a wild pitch.

Newtown put the game out of reach in the third by scoring eight runs on only three hits, the big one a bases clearing double by O’Connor, who had five RBIs on the day. Braun (double) and Kelly (triple driving in Braun) ended the game via the ten-run rule in the bottom of the fourth.

Poeltl pitched two scoreless innings for Newtown and Sposta kept Southbury in check in the fourth, setting up the game winning hit by Kelly in the bottom of the inning. In the field, O’Connor started an inning-ending double play in the first by making a nice catch on a ball hit to right field and fired a strike to Magoulas at third getting the runner trying to advance from second.

Magoulas also made a nice play in the third inning on a slow roller to third base, getting the runner at first.

Southbury needed a win in game two to keep their title hopes alive and fought the Bombers through six tough innings, but fell short, 6-5, in an exciting, well-played game.

Newtown went ahead, 1-0, in the first as Hull walked and eventually came around to score on a fielder’s choice. The lead went to 3-0 in the second as Hull and Poeltl drew walks and were brought home on a double by Braun.

Sposta held Southbury to one run in innings two and three, but Southbury went up 5-3 after a fourth inning rally. Newtown rallied for two in the top of the fifth as Braun led off with a single and scored on Kelly’s fielder’s choice. Schmidt then drove in Kelly with a sacrifice fly to tie the game. Then Braun held Southbury scoreless in the bottom of the fifth, striking out two Southbury batters and setting up the sixth inning dramatics.

Hull then led off the top of the sixth with his third walk of the game and eventually came in to score on a bases load walk to Hennessy to put the Bombers ahead, 6-5. Braun returned to the mound in the bottom of the sixth and struck out the first hitter, bringing up the top of the Southbury order. The next batter drew a walk, putting the tying run on first, but was erased trying to steal second on a nice throw by Schmidt.

Gerics ended the game – and the tournament – by throwing out the next batter on a grounder to second base.

The Bombers will open the state tournament on Saturday in Cheshire against a tough Danbury team.