BETHEL – Capturing the Southbury Memorial Weekend Tournament title was nice, but capturing the Al Leonard Jimmy Fund Tournament title – and beating state powerhouse Danbury to do it – is even better.

Danbury was the defending New England Regional champions and hadn’t lost a game in two years and swept Newtown in four meetings in 2006. But this is 2007 and with two straight wins over the explosive Danbury, it was Newtown that walked away the trophy.

Coming out of the loser’s bracket – thanks to a 7-3 loss to Bethwood to open the tournament – the locals had to overcome undefeated Danbury twice if they were to hold the trophy aloft. But with Virgil Procaccini and Bobby Archiere on the mound, Newtown was able to shut down the potent Danbury offense for a 10-0 win.

Archiere not only pitched well, but also helped his cause by going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two runs scored in the victory. Julian Dunn and Procaccini added two hits each while Brandon Powell contributed four RBI.

The win set the stage for another game and it was far more dramatic than the first.

Down 1-0 in the bottom of the fifth, Newtown rallied for a 2-1 win. With the ace of the Danbury staff still on the hill in the frame – and still going strong – Chase Wurtz started things off with a two-strike single. Troy Frangione laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Wurtz to second before Colton Smith beat out an infield single to give Newtown runners on first and third with just one out.

Jim Parker stepped to the plate and, on the first pitch, stroked a double to deep right center to scored two runs to put the locals up, 2-1.

Archiere came on in relief in the top of the sixth and struck out the side to hand Newtown the tournament championship.

After the 7-3 loss to Bethwood to open the tournament, the young ball players were able to regroup and continue to dominate their way through the loser’s bracket. With brilliant pitching by Procaccini, Archiere, Parker, Brandon Powell and Connor Roche, Newtown limited its opponents to just six runs in the next eight games on its way to eight straight victories – including a 9-3 victory over the same Bethwood team that put them into the loser’s bracket.

As a team, Newtown batted .455 with 91 runs scored in the final eight games in wins over Cheshire (13-0), New Canaan (12-0), Oxford (14-1), West Norwalk (12-1), Bethwood (9-3), Bethel (19-0), and then Danbury (10-0 and 2-1).

Wurtz batted .636 (7-for-11) to lead the offense, but was bolstered plenty by Colton Smith at .552 (16-for-29), Procaccini at .542 (13-for-24), Archiere at .458 (11-for-24), Roche at .455 (5-for-11) Dunn at .444 (12-for-27), Parker at .440 (11-for-25), Stephen Grasso .438 (7-for-16), Frangione at .421 (8-for-19), Powell at .409 (9-for-22) and Nick Lotrecchiano at .385 (5-for-13).

Powell led the team with 11 RBI as Smith chipped in 10. Procaccini drove in nine runs and Parker drove in eight.

Frangione, Charlie Huegi, Dunn, Parker and Procaccini also sparkled in the field.

U12 Lightning Open Summer

With Three Straight Wins

Nothing like getting off to a hot start.

The Newtown Lightning struck hard last week, scoring 50 runs and racking up wins in its first three games in the Connecticut Summer Baseball League.

The 12-year-old summer travel team blasted New Fairfield (20-8) and Southbury (8-2) at Glander Field and then smashed Easton (22-3) in Easton.

Sean Dardine and Kaleb Rowe belted two home runs apiece to fuel the offensive explosion as Ben Stoller, Pat Thornberg and John Lebinski added homers of their own. For Rowe and Stoller, it was the first over-the-fence home runs of their career; for Lebinski, it was his first travel home run.

The Lightning buried New Fairfield in the first inning after Tyler Gibney tripled to left field. Stoller knocked him in with an RBI grounder and then Thornberg and Dardine crushed back-to-back homers. Dan Gustafson walked and Rowe smacked a two-run homer over the centerfield fence to give the home team a 5-0 lead.

The Lightning piled on seven more runs in the second inning, sending all 13 batters in the team’s continuous batting order to the plate. Key hits were singles by Rob Andreotta and Mike Scharfenberg and a two-run double to the left field fence by Stoller.

Lebinski smashed a two-run homer in the third inning and the Lightning scored four runs in the fourth behind a Ryan Daignault single and doubles by Gibney and Thornberg. The Lightning closed out the scoring on a two-run double by Nicky Sajovic.

Rowe threw two hitless shutout innings, striking out five. Gustafson also hurled a shutout frame.

In the win over Southbury, the Lightning rallied back from an early 2-0 deficit, erupting for seven third-inning runs and never looking back.

The rally began when Daignault reached on an error and Troy Larsen walked. Gibney, Dardine and Stoller then banged out consecutive RBI doubles to give the Lightning a 4-2 lead. An error allowed another two runs to score and Rowe drove in another with a single.

Newtown closed out the scoring in the fifth when Dardine and Stoller singled and Dardine scored on another error by the left fielder.

In the rout of Easton, the locals got things going when Thornberg singled, Gustafson walked and Rowe crushed a three-run homer over the centerfield fence in the second inning. Alex Roche singled and was driven in by a Sajovic single to give Newtown a 4-1 lead.

In the third, the Lightning scored 10 more runs while sending 15 batters to the plate. Stoller singled and homered in the inning and Gibney singled twice. Thornberg, Gustafson, Roche, Andreotta and Sajovic all stroked singles.

In the fourth inning, Scharfenberg doubled to the fence in right field and scored on an error. Dardine then drilled a scorching line drive that went way over the left field fence for a three-run homer. The Lightning scored three more in the sixth inning on a double to the left centerfield fence by Rowe, a single by Roche and a two-run single by Daignault.

Lebinski picked up the win for the Lightning, yielding one unearned run on two hits and striking out five in two innings. Daignault, Roche and Sajovic each threw a shutout inning.