Despite a fast start in the first-ever Cal Ripken Majors 50/70 state tournament, the Newtown Bombers 12-year-old All Stars could not survive a brutal bracket.

The Bombers drew three games against perennial powers Danbury and West Norwalk in the early going and though the locals won two out of those three tough games, they lost their second meeting with a suddenly hot-hitting Danbury club, 13-4, and exited the tournament with a 2-2 mark.

The Bombers opened the tournament by pounding Danbury, 13-1, in a mercy-rule shortened contest back on July 8.

Last Friday in the rematch, the locals fell behind early, 3-0, but were able to scratch their way back to 3-3 by the top of the third on RBI singles by Reid Schmidt, Rich Sandler and Joe Davis. But Danbury scored eight runs in the bottom of the frame and Newtown was unable to muster another comeback.

There was a rally in the fourth, but singles by Schmidt and David Gerics and a walk to Dan Poeltl resulted in just one run.

In the tournament opener at Robert Glander Field, Newtown pitcher Kyle Wilcox allowed a first inning run but then held Danbury to two hits through the next four innings. Meanwhile, the Newtown offense came to life in the bottom of the third with a lead off single from Schmidt. Two stolen bases later, the tying run was 70 feet away and it registered on a single by Andy Kelley.

Kelley then scored on a single by the hot-hitting Davis to put the locals on top … for good.

Newtown never looked back, pouring on three more runs in the bottom of the fourth as singles from Mike Allwein and Gerics put two runners on for Schmidt, who launched a blast over the left centerfield fence to put Newtown up 5-1.

Schmidt finished the day 3-for-3, with a walk, three runs and three RBI.

In the bottom of the fifth, walks to Davis and Demers and a perfectly executed sacrifice bunt from Jon Hull gave the Bombers runners on second and third with one down when back to back singles from Allwein and Gerics urged three more runs home.

An error on a sacrifice bunt plated another run and Sandler added three more with a home run over the centerfield fence to put the locals on top, 13-1.

Poeltl came on in relief set Danbury down in order in the fifth to close out the game and finish off a two-hitter. Dean Demers provided the defensive play of the game, drifting back against the right field fence and leaping to rob a Danbury batter of a home run.

The following game was the pivotal one for the Bombers, as a win would have kept them out of a now stacked losers’ bracket. Unfortunately, New Canaan had other plans and after racing out to a 4-0 first inning lead held on for a 9-7 win.

Schmidt began Newtown’s attempted comeback with a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first and another solo shot in the third, making the score 4-2. Poeltl followed Schmidt with a solo shot of his own and Kelley, after reaching on a single, raced around the bases on a series of stolen bases and passed balls to knot the score at 4-4.

New Canaan came back in the top of the fourth and plated five more runs in a spirited rally that made the score 9-4. Newtown continued to battle and scored three more runs in the bottom of the fourth on a three-run homer from Gerics, scoring Wilcox (single) and Michael Lengel (walk).

The Bombers would bring the tying run to the plate in the sixth after Schmidt singled, but the New Canaan relief corps came through and preserved the win.

West Norwalk now stood in the way of Newtown’s tourney hopes and again the Bombers fell behind in the top of the first inning, 3-0. The deficit could have been worse if it wasn’t for a nice running grab by Demers in shallow right, again robbing an opposing batter of a potential key hit and a leaping grab of a liner by Davis at second to end the inning.

Schmidt continued his torrid hitting, launching another leadoff homer to cut the deficit to 3-1 in the bottom of the first.

After a scoreless second by both teams (the Bombers wasted singles by Lengel and Davis), West Norwalk scored another run in the top of the third to make it 4-1, but Kelley then homered in the bottom of the frame to pull the Bombers within 4-2.

A potentially big inning for West Norwalk resulted in only one run in the fourth inning and that defensive momentum carried over into the bottom of the fourth as the Bombers exploded for eight runs. Davis and Wilcox singled to lead off the inning and Davis scored on an RBI single by Gerics. Allwein then delivered again for the Bombers in a clutch spot, singling to right to plate two more runs. Gary Braun then followed with a long home run to left-center that scored three more runs and Schmidt followed Braun with his second homer of the game, a screaming line drive over the left field fence.

Kelley wrapped up the inning with an RBI single and a run scored on a wild pitch to put Newtown ahead, 10-5.

West Norwalk failed to score in the top of the fifth despite getting two runners into scoring position, aided largely by a terrific running catch by shortstop Hull in shallow center field. Schmidt would ice the game in the bottom of the fifth with a grand slam, his third homer of the game, capping off a remarkable offensive performance over the first three games of the tournament (9-for-11, 6 HRs, 11 RBI).

Hull scored the final run of the mercy-shortened game after getting plunked by the frustrated West Norwalk pitcher and came around to score the winning run on a single by Kelley.

Greenwich came away with the tournament championship with a 10-4 win over Danbury on Sunday. The Bombers, meanwhile, will continue their season by embarking on a barnstorming tour across Connecticut before beginning their big-field careers this fall.

– courtesy of Pete Sandler

U15

The Newtown 15-year-old All Star team was bounced from the District 4 tournament with a 5-0 loss to New Milford in the semi-finals.

Newtown was limited to just five hits in a game that, due to rain, took two days to complete. New Milford broke open a 1-0 game, scoring four runs in the bottom of the fourth after two were out. The locals loaded the bases in the sixth and had runners aboard in the seventh but couldn’t plate a run.

Pete Wlasuk banged out three hits as Anthony Gruce and Mike Coates collected safeties for Newtown, which finished a very respectable third out of eight teams. Ridgefield ended up defeating New Milford for the championship.

Newtown will now play Brookfield on Saturday (1 pm) in the 15-and-under Jimmy Fund Tournament in Bethel.

U12

CSBL

The two local nines in the 12-and-under division of the Connecticut Summer Baseball League got involved in an old-fashioned donnybrook last week as the Lightning topped the Nighthawks, 19-12, at Liberty Field.

It was the fifth straight win for the Lightning, who improved to 8-3, just one-half game behind Fairfield.

The Lightning, who open the playoffs Saturday at 10 am at Glander Field, banged out 16 hits, including three each by Kaleb Rowe, Tyler Gibney, Alex Roche and John Lebinski. With the Lightning leading 5-2 in the second inning, Rowe blasted a three-run homer off the stone wall behind the right centerfield fence. He also doubled to the fence in the third inning, driving in two more runs.

Gibney smacked two doubles, including a towering drive off the left field fence. He also scored three runs and drove in two. Roche scored four runs and Lebinski three. Michael Scharfenberg slapped two singles and knocked in three runs as Ben Stoller drove a run home with a double to left center.

For the Nighthawks, Grant Ricketts clubbed an RBI double to left center in the first inning, scoring Robert Linden. Erik Laaksonen singled to bring in Ricketts and give the Nighthawks a short-lived 2-1 lead. Ryan Pisani and Stefan Dullinger whacked RBI doubles in the third inning. Linden, Alex Lapinski and Jonah Munez each scored three runs.

The Lightning’s Rowe and Sajovic each pitched a shutout inning, the only scoreless frames of the game.

The Lightning’s previous game against Easton, which was played in Redding because of lack of field availability in Newtown, was cancelled in the second inning when lightning and rain struck. The Lightning led, 3-0, and had two runners on base when the game was halted. Lebinski was pitching a perfect game, mowing down all six batters he faced, including three in the second inning.

The Lightning had two hits, a double by Rowe and a wicked line drive single to left by Pat Thornberg. Thornberg, Roche and Dan Gustafson scored on a hit batter, a walk and a fielder’s choice

TEAMS                           W-L    PTS

Fairfield                         11-2      22

Newtown Lightning        9-3      18

Redding                           7-4      14

New Milford                   6-6      14

Newtown Nighthawks   6-5      12

Southbury                        5-6      10

New Fairfield                2-11        4

Easton                            1-10        2

U9

The Newtown Fire 9-year-old All Star team was stopped in an 8-2 loss to New Milford in the District 4 tournament.

The Fire scored a run in the opening frame, but could only manage one other the rest of the way against the hard hitting and hard throwing New Milford.

Luke Rustici again pitched well for the Fire, allowing no runs in two innings of work. Jack Procaccini and Michael Parker played solid D in the infield.

Curt Williamson (2-for-3, 2 stolen bases and a run scored) and CJ Dunn (1-for-2, a walk, 2 stolen bases and an RBI) sparked the offense.

It was the Fire’s second loss to New Milford twice in the double-elimination tournament. Catcher Michael Doyle (17 of 22 innings caught and tied for most RBIs) and Rustici (11 Ks over eight innings on the mound with only two runs allowed) were recognized by the team as Co-MVPs.

In the Brookfield Wooden Bat Tournament, the Fire topped Southbury (4-1) and Danbury (3-1).

In the win over Southbury, Newtown rallied back from an early deficit with two runs off a Dave Matthews line shot single

Two more insurance runs were later scored, one each in the third and fourth innings.

Michael Parker (double, 3 stolen bases, 2 runs scored) and Matthews (2-for-2 with a single and double, 3 stolen bases and a run scored) sparked the offense.

Catcher Nick Samuelson and leftfielder Declan Sullivan sparked the defense.

Rustici, Sam Czel and Williamson combined for the win with a total of nine strikeouts.

In the win over Danbury, the Fire jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first off a lead off single by Parker, who then proceeded to steal his way around the bases.

Danbury would match the run in the top of the fourth, but the locals responded by putting up two more runs at the bottom of the same inning. Williamson (single, 2 stolen bases and a run scored) and Dunn (single, 2 stolen bases and 2 RBI) sparked the offense.

In the field, Doyle sparkled at short and behind the dish, including throwing out Danbury’s speediest runner while attempting to steal third. Devin Luzietti, in rightfield, stopped a run from scoring by throwing a frozen rope to home plate.

And it was another stellar effort on the mound by Rustici (2 Ks, retiring the side twice), Czel (5 Ks over 2 innings) and Williamson (2 Ks over 2 innings to preserve the win).