Newtown Gold 8s

Complete Successful Travel Season

The Newtown Gold Lightning baseball team recently completed a successful season with a 7-2 record in the machine-pitch Bethany-Woodbridge (“Beth-Wood”) Friendship Tournament for 8-year olds.

The league was made up of 12 teams from the state, mostly from western Connecticut, and took place during the course of four weeks in July.

“The pitching machine took the pressure off of pitching, giving the boys a chance to concentrate on improving their hitting and fielding skills in their first season playing summer travel baseball,” Head Coach Dan Cotton said. 

The Lightning started the season 5-0. They defeated Oxford 21-7 behind three hits from Ayden Kasbarian and Ryan Beardsley.  Then the Lightning outslugged Southbury Gold 20-16 on the strength of three hits from each from Michael Cotton, Ayden Kasbarian, James Schumacher (including two doubles), and Luke Barrett (including a triple). In their first away game, the Lightning trounced Beth-Wood 18-2. Hitting stars were Trevor Tyrrell, Ayden Kasbarian (including a triple), and Michael Cotton, all of whom had three hits. The Lightning struck Preston 23-5 with a barrage of hits including three each from Ryan Beardsley, Shea Talbot (including a double and inside-the-park home run), and Patrick Hurley (two doubles) and two hits each from Sean Arnold, Liam Loging, and Michael Cotton (2 triples). The best hitting performances in a 24-5 win over Southbury Blue were provided by Tyler Fuori and Ayden Kasbarian, each of whom had four hits, including two doubles. Hitters with three hits each were Chris Venezia, Luke Barrett (double), Liam Loging (two doubles), and Michael Cotton (two doubles).

In late July games, the Lightning defeated the other 8-year old team from Newtown, the Newtown Blue, 11-5, on the strength of two doubles from Patrick Hurley, and two hits each from Tyler Fuori and Liam Loging.  Next, in a battle of undefeated teams, the Lightning was defeated by South Meriden 16-11. The Lightning fell behind early, but battled back behind three hits from Shea Talbot and James Schumacher, and two hits each from Sam Eppers, Patrick Hurley, Michael Cotton, and Chris Venezia, only to fall short. The Lightning then defeated Woodbury 20-13 behind four hits from Nick Accousti and four hits from James Schumacher, including an inside-the-park home run, along with three hits from Tyler Fuori, including a double. In the final game of the season, the Lightning fell to the Southbury Gold in the playoffs despite 2-for-2 performances from James Schumacher and Ayden Kasbarian, and a 2-for-3 effort from Luke Barrett.

“I am really proud of this team,” Coach Cotton said. “They showed themselves to be one of the top teams in the league against their early-season competition. Then when the heat was turned up against tougher competition, we defeated our friends from Newtown Blue, the top team in the other division.”

The coach added that, even with all of the wins, the most inspiring performance was the loss against a tough South Meriden team.

“We showed a lot of spirit and battled back from 11 runs down to cut the deficit to three,” said Cotton, adding that the players got a nice ovation from their family members. “I think they inspired their parents with their effort. We have some really strong hitters and some exceptional fielders. You will hear more from this group of boys in the future.”