By Steve Bigham

SOUTH MERIDEN – A few bad hops and a bit of tough luck at this past weekend’s state tournament in South Meriden spelled the end of the line for the Newtown Babe Ruth 11-year-old All Stars.

After winning its opener 11-0 over Bolton late last week, Newtown dropped two straight in the double-elimination tournament to end what was a terrific summer run. On Saturday against West Norwalk, the locals rallied from a 3-1 deficit to tie the game . . . only to lose, 5-3.

On Sunday, Newtown lost a heartbreaker to Southbury, 5-4, in extra innings. Southbury scored a pair of unearned runs in the top of the seventh inning to take control. Newtown rallied for a run in the bottom of the inning and had a man on second when the final out was recorded.

“They were both tightly contested games,” explained Head Coach Bob Lapple. “Baseball is a game of inches and often times that’s what separates the winners and losers. Against Southbury, we hit three line drives to the right fielder, if he doesn’t make those plays, we win the game.”

Newtown had a couple of chances to put the games away, but failed to come up with “that timely hit.”

“It was just one of those things. These kids fought very hard. They were put into a position that they had never been in before. They were playing for higher stakes. It was a great experience for them,” Lapple said.

Against Southbury, Newtown managed just four hits and left nine runners on base. Stefan Toi walked four times.

“It was a classic case of not getting the hit when you needed it,” said Lapple, who credited the Southbury defense for “choking off” a handful of Newtown rallies.

Kurtis Liska’s pinch-hit single in the fourth inning drove in a run and was followed by Blake Barreto’s RBI single.

In the West Norwalk game, Liska opened the fourth inning with a two out double to center field, and was followed up by a Danny Smith walk, an infield error, and a wild pitch. Two runs scored to tie the game. Newtown threatened in the fifth when it loaded the bases with just one out, but failed to score.

The locals took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on a Joe Greenfield double, a wild pitch and a Tony Gallucci’s sacrifice fly.

In the opener, the locals batted around in the second inning against Bolton, scoring eight runs on three hits and four walks. Among them was Bob Lapple’s two-out double to left center to drive in three runs. Lapple, PJ Cochrane and Alex Magoulas each had two hits for the winners.

Southbury eventually lost to South Meriden, 6-0, in the finals of the loser’s bracket. South Meriden was slated to play West Norwalk for the championship Wednesday night. The winner moves on to the regionals in Dover, New Hampshire.