Senior Baseball

19U Playoff Action

In the Connecticut Senior Baseball League 19U playoff action, Newtown came our on top in two of three games.

 

Newtown 4, Naugatuck 3: Bobby Archiere pitched the first four innings, shutting out Naugatuck during the first three frames before giving up two fourth-inning runs. Newtown scored its first run in the first inning when Sutton lined a single to left and moved to second on the left fielder’s error. Sutton moved to third on Mike Allwein’s groundout and scored on an RBI sacrifice fly by David Lucia. Down 3-1 in the sixth inning, Newtown chipped away at the lead after Allwein reached on the shortstop’s two-base throwing error. Alex Lapinski ripped an RBI single to right to score Allwein. Left fielder Harrison made the game’s top defensive play, diving to his left to catch a fly ball in the first inning.

Trailing 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh inning, Newtown scored two runs to win its opening-round playoff game last Friday night at Fairfield Hills Field. Dan Harrison led off the inning by reaching on a two-base throwing error by the shortstop. Alex Romeo drilled a single to send Harrison to third and stole second base. With the infield drawn in, Eric Sutton slapped a pitch past the second baseman for an error. Harrison scored the tying run, and Romeo evaded the throw to the plate for the winning run against Erich Broadrick, a former Naugatuck High School varsity baseball player who is a quarterback at Post University. Eric Pisani picked up the win in relief, yielding one run and striking out four over the final three innings.

 

Watertown 2, Newtown 0: Rob Valunas, a sophomore pitcher on Western Connecticut State University’s baseball team, shut out Newtown Monday in the second round of the CSBL tournament at Naugatuck High School. Valunas pitched a great game, striking out 14 batters and yielding four hits, but his performance may have been overshadowed by Newtown’s Alex Saviano. The 19-year-old Saviano, pitching perhaps the final game of his long baseball career against one of the state’s top teams, hurled a two-hitter and struck out nine. Using a live fastball and a nasty curve ball, Saviano, who has not played on a high school or college team, repeatedly had to get extra outs to keep the game close, because of six Newtown errors. Newtown entered the game without seven starting players, including some with season-ending injuries and others who were absent. David Lucia, Newtown’s top hitter and starting center fielder, was unable to play the field after suffering a partial ligament tear in the previous playoff game, but gamely stayed in the line-up as a designated hitter. Right fielder Alex Lapinski excelled, rapping two hits, stealing two bases and catching two fly balls.

 

Newtown Lightning 9, Waterbury 4: Newtown got on the board first in the first inning when Stoller slapped a single, stole second, moved to third on a wild pitch and scored on Lapinski’s RBI groundout to second. After Waterbury scored four second-inning runs, Newtown added a second-inning run. John Lebinski crushed a single to right center and was forced at second by Eric Pisani. Pisani moved to third on two wild pitches and scored when Archiere reached on an error. The Lightning also added a solo run in the fourth inning. Alex Saviano walked, stole second with a head-first slide and scored when Lebinski slammed a line-drive single to left.

Trailing after four innings and facing elimination in the third round of the league playoffs Tuesday night, Ben Stoller, Alex Lapinski and David Lucia delivered big hits to rally Newtown and eliminate Waterbury from the double-elimination tournament at Naugatuck High School field. Down 4-3 in the fifth inning, Newtown’s Ryan Pisani was hit by a pitch and Stoller drilled a double that bounced against the right field fence. Lucia walked to load the bases, and Lapinski lined a clutch single to center. Pisani scored, and Stoller slid around the catcher’s tag. Michael Allwein lofted a sacrifice fly to center to score Lucia and give Newtown a 7-4 lead. Eric Pisani relieved Eric Sutton and threw two shutout innings to get a save.

Pisani yielded two walks and three hits but got key outs. He was aided by Lapinski, who made a nice catch in right field to strand two runners in the sixth inning, and first baseman Stoller, who scooped an errant throw for an out in the seventh inning. Waterbury loaded the bases after Stoller’s scoop, but Pisani fought back and got the final out on a fly ball to center fielder Bobbie Archiere, his third nice catch of the game. Newtown scored two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Archiere walked and went to third when Ryan Pisani lined a single to left on a run-and-hit play. Sutton walked, and Lucia plunked a two-RBI single to center.