Lightning In Championship

The Lightning, Connecticut’s Senior Baseball League 18U team, advanced to the championship game which will be held this Saturday, October 29, at noon at Fairfield Hills Field. Playoff game highlights from this past week are as follows:

Lightning 11, Stamford 3: Trailing 2-0 after the first half inning, the Lightning stormed back with three first-inning runs and then buried Stamford Sunday at Fairfield Hills. The win was the local club’s fifth straight and advanced the squad to the championship game against Ridgefield.

Newtown noticed that Stamford’s starting catcher wasn’t at the game and ran roughshod, stealing 17 bases in six innings. Kyle Wilcox and Wyatt Depuy each stole three bases, and Wilcox scored three runs. Though Newtown only had four hits, it also capitalized on a slew of Stamford fielding errors. The Lightning’s Wilcox, Garrison Buzzanca, and Austin Bonadio slapped singles, and teammate Brandon Cooper slammed a double over the right fielder’s head. Starting pitcher Dean Demers got the win, holding Stamford to two runs and two hits over four innings. Jon Hull relieved, yielding one run and two hits, and striking out five in three innings.

Lightning 10, Trumbull 0: The Lightning broke open a tight 3-0 game with four fifth-inning runs in the opening round of the playoffs Saturday at Fairfield Hills. Austin Bonadio pitched magnificently, walking none and giving up just two hits in six shutout innings. Newtown jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning. Jon Hull beat out a perfectly placed bunt down the third-base line, and Kyle Wilcox ripped a single through a big left-field hole when Trumbull’s shortstop raced to cover second base on a run-and-hit play. Chris Tenney drilled a two-RBI single down the left-field line. After Tenney was thrown out stealing second, Austin Bonadio walked, stole second and third bases, and scored on a passed ball. In the third inning, a noisy Trumbull bench was quieted when Newtown shortstop Jon Hull gloved a grounder up the middle, stepped on second and threw to first baseman Ben Stoller for a double play.  Trumbull again threatened in the fifth inning with a man on second and one out. Catcher Tenney raced out to field a bunt and fired in the dirt to Stoller, who scooped a one-hopper out of the dirt for the out. The next batter grounded to second baseman Garrison Buzzanca who threw to Stoller for the final out. Buzzanca led off the bottom of the inning with a line single to right and then beat a throw to second after Charlie Huegi laid down a nice sacrifice bunt. With two outs, Wilcox drilled a hard grounder that the pitcher knocked down but couldn’t pick up in time to nab the hustling Wilcox. The pitcher threw wildly to first, scoring both runners. Wilcox stole second and scored on an error. Tenney and Bonadio walked, and Stoller slashed an RBI single to left field, his second hit of the game. In the sixth inning, Newtown strung together singles by Brandon Cooper, Buzzanca, Huegi, and Bonadio to invoke the ten-run mercy rule.