Warriors Make Run In Regional Tourney, Finally Fall

The Warriors, in early July, became the first 15U Newtown baseball team in at least a decade to win three games in the Babe Ruth district tournament. The Warriors eliminated three teams from the annual tourney — Watertown, Pomperaug (Southbury/Middlebury) and Bethel — and advanced to the semifinals before bowing to a powerful Brookfield team.

The Warriors biggest win came last Sunday, 7-3, against hard-hitting Bethel at Ridgefield’s East Ridge Field. The victory, which avenged an opening-round 7-5 loss to Bethel, took two days to accomplish because heavy rain halted the game Saturday in the fifth inning.

Trailing 3-1 in the third inning, Newtown’s Max Temple reached base when the first baseman couldn’t handle an infielder’s throw. Brock Chimileski blasted a long RBI double to left, scoring Temple. Ben Stoller knocked an RBI single to right center to bring home Chimileski and then stole second. Stoller stole third and scored the go-ahead run when the catcher’s throw skipped into left field.

Newtown pitcher Colton Sposta came on in relief in the third inning and shut down Bethel’s big bats. Sposta retired Bethel in order in the third, striking out two with a blazing fastball.

Bethel had runners on base in every inning, including two runners on in the fourth and sixth innings, but Sposta refused to give in. He made clutch pitches to get out of every jam, shutting out Bethel for five innings. Sposta was the winning pitcher, scattering four hits, walking two and striking out five.

With Newtown leading 4-3, Austin Ekstrom singled, Brandon Cooper walked, and Sposta slapped a grounder to second that was booted by the second baseman. Ekstrom beat the throw to the plate, and Sposta alertly hustled to second. On the throw to second, Cooper darted for the plate. The second baseman threw home, but Cooper slid in under the catcher’s tag. Nicky Sajovic dropped a well-placed sacrifice bunt to move Sposta to third, and Sposta scored on Eric Sutton’s infield grounder.

In Newtown’s first district win, 10-4, last week against Watertown at Ridgefield’s Playground Field, the Warriors bounced back from a 2-0 deficit. Sutton singled in the bottom of the first and went to third when the center fielder misplayed the ball. Chimileski smacked an RBI sacrifice fly to score Sutton. Stoller cracked a double over the left fielder’s head, stole third and appeared to have scored when the pitcher threw the pickoff throw to third into left field. But the umpire called a balk, sent Stoller back to third.

Warriors pitcher Ekstrom then closed the door, hurling three shutout innings. Ekstrom pitched 5 1/3 innings for the win, yielding six hits and two earned runs while striking out nine batters. Sposta was perfect in relief, retiring all five hitters he faced, including four by strikeouts, to get the save.

Cooper sparked the offense with three hits, including a double, and Sutton stroked three singles.

Newtown’s second district win was an 11-4 win over Pomperaug. Trailing 1-0, the Warriors scored four runs in the second inning and five in the third. Key second-inning hits were a two-RBI single by Sutton and a single by John Lebinski. The third-inning rally was fueled by a two-RBI double by Sajovic and singles by Stoller, Cooper, Max Temple, Sutton and Chimileski.

The game ended when Newtown turned a nifty double play. Left fielder Ekstrom caught a high fly, threw to shortstop Sutton, who tossed to first baseman Stoller to nail a Pomperaug runner trying to retreat back to first.

In the semifinal loss to Brookfield, Newtown was flat, playing its second game of the day. The Warriors committed numerous errors and short-circuited a couple of offensive threats with base-running mistakes.

Newtown’s lone run came in when Sutton and Chimileski singled, and Ekstrom ripped an RBI single. Other Newtown hits were singles by Temple, Lebinski, Sposta, and Sajovic.

Amid all the district tournament hoopla, Newtown had to travel to Stamford’s Trinity Catholic High School for a summer travel league game last Saturday. In one of the wildest, most fiercely played games the Warriors have played, Stamford eked out a 6-5 win in nine innings.

Twice Newtown was denied runs by the home plate umpire on close plays at the plate. In the first inning, Stoller tried to steal home in the first inning after a soft throw from the catcher to the pitcher. In the ninth inning, Lebinski drilled a clutch single to left field with Chimileski on second. Chimileski raced around third and appeared safe, but he was called out at the plate.

The game’s biggest highlights were remarkable defensive plays by Newtown. With a runner at first and the score tied 5-5 in the bottom of the seventh inning, center fielder Temple raced in, dove headlong to his right, grabbed the ball just before it hit the ground, somersaulted and held the ball up in his glove to show the umpire that he had made the catch.

 Earlier in the inning, second baseman Cooper dropped to one knee to corral a wicked one-hop ground ball and throw to Stoller at first base for an out. In the eighth inning, shortstop Sajovic made a beautiful over-the-shoulder catch in short left field. 

Newtown got gutsy pitching performances from Lebinski and Sposta, who initially were not scheduled to pitch because of the ongoing district tournament. Troy Larsen also pitched strongly in relief, hurling four innings, including two shutout frames.