There’s a reason state championships are played under a double elimination format – it allows a team to lose once without being penalized.

Unfortunately for the Newtown Bombers 12-and-under All Star team, the West Norwalk Invitational was played with a three-game pool play round, followed by a seeded single elimination playoff. So despite finishing the tournament with the best overall record at 5-1, the locals fell to Southbury in the championship game and had to settle for second place.

The Southbury squad, which finished the pool play round winless at 0-3, got hot when it counted, running off three straight wins against West Norwalk (3-1), Danbury (3-2), and Newtown to walk away with the title, avenging their loss to the Bombers in the championship game of the Southbury Memorial Day Tournament earlier this year.

“The Bombers played good baseball the entire tournament and we are looking forward to seeing how things unfold in states under double elimination rules,” said head coach Ron Schmidt.

With an 8-2 record in tournament play this year (9-2 overall), the Bombers have good reason to believe they have a legitimate chance at another state title this year. The Bombers finished fifth in the nation at the 10-year-old Cal Ripken World Series two years ago, but were handed an early exit from last year’s state tournament by the Danbury and Greenwich squads.

The locals will play host to the first ever Cal Ripken Majors 50/70 Division state championship starting July 7 at The Robert Glander Baseball Complex at Fairfield Hills.

The new playing rules put into effect for the 12-year-old age group enlarged the infield by 10 feet to 70 feet and pushed the pitchers mound back four feet. The bigger field size provides safety benefits for pitchers and corner infielders while also allowing players an easier transition to the 90-foot field they will play on starting this fall. Other changes new to the 12-year-old age group this year allow for leading and balks, as well as the dropped third strike rule which offers the batter an opportunity to reach first.

The new division and field size was an optional upgrade for towns who play in the Babe Ruth League. Fourteen leagues in the state chose to make the switch and teams from Cheshire, Coventry, Danbury, Greenwich, Hebron, Ledyard, Middlebury, New Canaan, Newtown, Southbury, West Norwalk, and Woodbury will join the locals in competition for the right to call themselves the first ever Majors 50/70 state champion.

Also at stake – a trip to the New England Regional Championship set to be played in Cheshire, Connecticut beginning July 21.

“The boys would love nothing more to get back to the Regionals this year, where a trip to the Cal Ripken World Series will be waiting for the winner,” said coach Schmidt. “The kids have averaged seven runs a game this year and the pitching staff has shown they can be dominating at times, allowing only one run per game during the pool play portion of the West Norwalk Tournament.”

The Bombers cruised through the pool play round in West Norwalk, defeating Greenwich in their opening game. With the score knotted at one apiece, Andy Kelley and Gary Braun sparked the offense with back-to-back singles to start off the bottom of the fourth. Slugger Rich Sandler followed with a three-run homer to give the locals all the offense they would need as great pitching from Dan Poeltl, Reid Schmidt and John Hull combined to hold Greenwich to only two hits.

Squaring off against Danbury for the first time this year in the second game, the Bombers found themselves in another tight contest with the score deadlocked at 1-1 heading into the top of the sixth. Singles from Sandler, Mike Lengel and Joe Davis gave the Bombers a one-run lead and a sharply hit ball by David Gerics provided an insurance run heading into the bottom of the frame. Kelley held Danbury in check to close out the game, combining with Kyle Wilcox for another two-hit pitching performance.

Newtown finished out pool play against the winless Southbury squad with its third great pitching performance as Schmidt, Sandler and Poeltl combined to throw a one-hitter. The Bomber offense came to life in the fourth inning following a leadoff double by Schmidt. A single from Lengel and a double from Kelley put the Bombers in front, 3-1. A walk to Braun led to a pitching change, but it didn’t stop the rally as Sandler launched a 1-1 pitch over the fence, plating two more runs.

Davis followed with some fireworks of his own, launching a towering blast over the centerfield fence to put the Bombers ahead, 6-1. The locals weren’t done though, tacking on another run in the fifth, with a lead off walk by Mike Allwein and a single from Dean Demers.

The Bombers met defending state champion Middlebury in the quarter-final round of the playoffs and played true to their name, sending 15 batters to the plate in the bottom of the first inning to jump out to an 11-1 lead … enroute to a 17-6 win.

A rematch with Greenwich in the semi-finals proved to be one of the more exciting games of the tournament.

Down 4-1 entering the bottom of the fifth, Newtown rallied to tie the game following a walk by Gerics, a single from Hull, another walk, and a single from Kelley. Two more walks to load the bases gave the Bombers a chance to take the lead, but Greenwich managed to escape without further damage. Poeltl kept the Greenwich offense in check with a one-two-three sixth inning, but the Bombers were held in check in the bottom of the frame to send the game into extra innings.

After allowing a lead off single to start the seventh, Poeltl retired the next three batters, stranding the go-ahead run 70 feet short of breaking the tie. Then Schmidt and Kelley banged out a pair of singles to get the winning run to third in the bottom of the frame with RBI machine Sandler stepping to the plate with two outs.

With the count full at 3 and 2, Sandler pounded a curve ball straight down into the plate. The tremendous amount of spin on the ball as it came off the plate caused it to change directions on its next bounce, eluding the pitcher and allowing Sandler to reach safely as Schmidt raced in from the third with the winning run.

Unfortunately, good pitching from Southbury’s Dean Watson and Nick Lasewicz combined to hold the Bomber’s offense to just five hits in the championship game, with a solo home run from Davis and a run from Demers providing the only scoring the locals could muster.

Southbury finished at 3-3, but had earned the right to walk off with the title, while the Bombers 5-1 record would only be good enough for second.

The Bombers will open up play in the state tournament on Sunday, July 8, against the winner of Danbury/West Norwalk at 9am at Glander Field. Additional information on the tournament and the Bombers game schedule can be found www.newtownbaseball.com by following the link on the homepage to the 12-year-old state tournament.

As part of the tournament, the league will be holding a silent auction on Saturday and Sunday, July 7 and 8, with proceeds benefiting The Jimmy Fund and Newtown Babe Ruth. In addition to Yankees and Mets tickets, one lucky winner will have the opportunity to meet former Yankees pitching legend and Bridgeport Bluefish manager Tommy John. Following their meet, greet, and photo opportunity, the winner throw out the first pitch to the Bluefish game and then take their seats in the Owners Field Box.

Additional information on the auction and the tournament is available on the website.

U12, CSBL

The upstart Newtown Nighthawks have been the surprise team of the Connecticut Summer Baseball League’s U11/U12 division.

The Nighthawks, managed by Sean Kerins, are in third place with a 3-1 record. Playing its first season in the CSBL, the team is comprised solely of all-star players from Newtown’s 11-year-old division. The team plays its home games on Liberty Field.

Their only loss was an 11-3 decision to Norwalk.

Newtown’s other CSBL team, the Lightning, had a tough week, losing 5-4 to New Milford, 4-0 to Redding and 16-6 to Fairfield.

Against New Milford, the Lightning battled back from 2-1 and 4-3 deficits before dropping the game in an extra inning. Down 2-1 in the second inning, Dan Gustafson smashed a double and scored when the shortstop couldn’t handle Mike Scharfenberg’s grounder. Ryan Daignault walked with the bases loaded to score Scharfenberg for a Newtown lead.

After New Milford took a 4-3 lead, the Lightning came to bat in the bottom of the sixth inning. Troy Larsen walked, Alex Roche singled and they moved up on a wild pitch. Tyler Gibney hit a clutch RBI grounder to deep short to score Larsen and tie the score. The New Milford pitcher uncorked a wild pitch and Roche alertly raced to the plate. But in a controversial call, he was tagged out on the throw from the catcher to the pitcher, sending the game to extra innings.

New Milford scored a single run in the seventh inning for the victory.

Daignault and Gustafson pitched superbly for the Lightning.

Two nights later in a pitcher’s duel against Redding, the Lightning and their opponent each had only three hits. Lightning pitcher John Lebinski was outstanding, yielding one run and one hit while striking out four batters in three innings. Lightning hits were by Lebinski, who drilled a double over the left fielder’s head, and by Pat Thornberg and Roche, who each singled.

Infielders Daignault and Gibney had superb defensive games. Third baseman Scharfenberg made a spectacular play, charging in on a bunt and throwing to second baseman Daignault for the out at first.

Against first-place Fairfield, the Lightning bats came alive, stroking 10 hits. But all were singles and weren’t enough to overcome Fairfield’s big bats. Sean Dardine led the Lightning with three hits, two RBI and two runs. Ben Stoller and Dan Gustafson each had two hits.

TEAMS    W-L

Fairfield  7-0

New Milford           4-1

Newtown Nighthawks           3-1

Newtown Lightning               3-3

Redding   2-2

Southbury               1-4

New Fairfield         1-5

Easton     0-5

U11

Newtown Silver dropped an 11-6 decision to Bethwood despite a two-run triple by Colin Dutt and a single and double from Max Lopez. Mike Burton, Michael Daubert and Max Temple played well defensively and Patrick Pierce and Brock Chimileski pitched well.

Silver lost to Bethwood, 11-2, in the Southbury Tournament as Wesley Morlock pitched five good innings and had a hit. Thomas Floros had a hit and played some good defense. Brennan Merrick, Miles LoBuglio and Dean Lindquist had good plays in the field.

In a 24-15 loss to New Canaan, Morlock had three hits with a double, Jacob Moore had two hits with a double and Temple had a two-run double. Dan Harrison had a single and a run. Daubert had a single and played some good defense and Pierce pitched four solid innings.

In an 11-5 win over Monroe, the locals got out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning with base hits by Moore, Morlock, Daubert and Dutt. Monroe scored one in the top of the second and one more in the third to tie the game, but the locals picked up a run in the bottom of the third on two more base hits by Morlock and Dutt. Newtown blew the game open in the fourth and fifth with eight runs.

Lobuglio pitched five great innings and held Monroe to only three earned runs. Lobuglio also helped is team by knocking in a run with a double in the fourth. Daubert came in to close the game in the sixth inning and did not allow a single base runner.

Morlock and Michael both went 3-for-3 as Dutt, Moore, Harrison, Burton and Lindquist all had two hits.

In a 15-7 win over Southbury, Newtown banged out eight singles in the second inning with Temple, Moore, Morlock, Daubert, Pierce, Lobuglio, Floros (3-for-3 on the day) and Lindquist getting together to drive in six runs. Behind the plate, Moore did a spectacular job gunning down three potential base steals.

Dutt and Pierce combined on the hill for the win.

U9

The Newtown Bombers 9-year-old All Star team won its first two games in the Monroe All Star Tournament.

In the opener last Thursday, the Bombers beat Derby, 8-2, on great pitching from Matt Maturo (four innings of two-hit ball with nine strikeouts) and Alex Daignault (two innings of perfect ball). Josh Houle, Zach Aumueller and Eric Street (2) all singled as Kyle McGrath doubled.

Alex Klang, Matt Elias, Jared Brady, Houle, Daignault, Aumueller and McGrath (2) all scored runs.

In the second game last Saturday, the locals nipped Bridgeport (North Side), 2-0, behind the great pitching effort of Tim Vander Have, who gave up only three hits while striking out 12.

Bridgeport held Newtown to just one hit off the bat of McGrath in the second inning. McGrath ended up stealing home for one run. Houle stole home in the first for the other Newtown run.

The Bombers continued their run in the tournament on Thursday against Ansonia.