Lightning 18, Danbury Two 7: David Lucia, Eric Pisani, and Dan Harrison combined for 12 runs batted in as Newtown pounded out 11 hits in a victory Tuesday at Danbury’s Rogers Park. The win boosted the local club’s final regular-season record to 11-5. Newtown scored three first-inning runs. Brandon Cooper and Ben Stoller walked and moved up on Lucia’s infield groundout. Eric Sutton legged out an infield single to score Cooper. When the outstretched first baseman looked in disbelief at the umpire’s safe call, Stoller kept running around third and dashed home for another run. Sutton stole second, and Pisani smashed an RBI double to center. Newtown scored five runs in the second. Ryan Pisani, Austin Ekstrom, and Cooper walked to load the bases, and Stoller and Lucia knocked in runs on infield grounders. Cooper scored on a wild pitch, and Alex Lapinski and Sutton walked to reload the bases. Pisani lined a two-RBI hit to left field. Newtown scored seven in the third inning. Bobby Archiere reached on a two-base error by the center fielder and scored on two wild pitches. Ekstrom reached on a fielder’s choice, and pinch-runner Alex Romeo darted to third on Cooper’s line single to left. Cooper alertly advanced to second on the throw to third. Stoller walked and stole second. Lucia belted a two-RBI single to right, Lapinski walked, and Eric Pisani was hit by a pitch. Harrison grounded a bases-loaded triple over third base. Newtown scored its final three runs in the fourth. Romeo ripped a single to left and scored on Stoller’s RBI double to right center. Lucia slashed an RBI single to right, his fourth RBI of the game, and stole second. Lapinski slapped a hard RBI single through the right field hole. Eric Pisani was the winning pitcher, yielding one earned run and striking out four in the first two innings. Alex Saviano hurled two shutout innings, striking out the side in the fourth inning and striking out one in the fifth. The game was halted after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

Senior Babe Ruth State Championship

Stamford 4, Western Connecticut 2: Western Connecticut dominated the game and led 2-0 before Stamford bounced back for four sixth-inning runs last week at Stamford’s Cubeta Stadium. The loss dropped Western Connecticut, comprised of Newtown, Danbury and Pomperaug all-stars, into the loser’s bracket of the double elimination state tournament. Most of the game was an incredible pitching duel between Western’s C.J. Sousa, who pitches for Western Connecticut State University, and Stamford High School ace Luis Lopez, who threw a one-hitter against Norwalk during a brilliant varsity season in the spring. Western scored two third-inning runs with two outs. B.J. Nimer walked and attempted to steal second when Danny Coakley crushed a hanging curveball to deep right center. Nimer scored, and Coakley reached second on a double. Coakley moved to third on a wild pitch and scored when Garron Negron reached on an infield single. Sousa yielded just one hit, one walk, and one hit by pitch in five scoreless innings. He was aided by the defense of first baseman Stoller, who scooped a throw out of the dirt in the first inning, raced to the stadium wall to catch a foul pop in the second, and grabbed an off-line throw and spun to tag the batter for the final out with two runners on base in the sixth inning. The sixth inning was Sousa’s downfall as Stamford scored four times on a walk, two infield singles, two other singles, and shortstop Alex Johnson’s off-target throw on an attempted force play at home plate. Lopez scattered five hits, walked just one, and struck out 10 in a complete-game victory.

Watertown/Waterbury 6, Western Connecticut 1: Watertown’s Rob Valunas, who also pitches for Western Connecticut State University, tossed a three-hitter and struck out 12 batters to eliminate Western from the tournament at Stamford’s Cubeta Stadium. Western’s only hits were singles by B.J. Nimer, Danny Coakley, and Alex Johnson. Garron Negron hit an RBI sacrifice fly to score Nimer for Western’s sole run. Newtown’s Bobby Archiere pitched three shutout innings for Western before Watertown broke through with three fourth-inning runs. Western reliever Danny Coakley gave up three runs in the next inning, and Western never threatened again. Newtown’s Michael Allwein was outstanding defensively at catcher for Western, calling a smart game and racing to the backstop in the sixth inning to grab a foul pop. Teammate Ben Stoller also was solid defensively at first base, successfully chasing a runner and getting an assist on a second-inning pickoff, recording three putouts, and fielding a hard grounder in the hole and flipping to Coakley for an out in the sixth inning. Other Newtown players on Western’s roster of all-stars were Brandon Cooper, Alex Lapinski, Alex Saviano, and Eric Pisani.