Lightning Capture Summer Baseball Travel League’s Regular Season Title

The Newtown Lightning won the regular-season title of the Connecticut Summer Travel Baseball League Tuesday, by capping the season with a 9-6 win over Aspetuck, a combined Redding-Easton team at Redding Boys & Girls Club Field.

The Lightning finished the regular season with a 12-4 record, including four wins without a loss against Aspetuck and a 13-4 overall mark. The team opens the double-elimination playoffs Sunday at 10:30 am at Walnut Tree Field in Sandy Hook and is also scheduled to play a playoff game Monday at 5:30 pm at Walnut Tree.

Lightning 9, Aspetuck 6: Lightning relief pitcher Nicky Sajovic clinched the title by striking out three straight batters to end the game. He entered the game in the bottom of the seventh inning with no outs, runners on first and third bases and the tying run at bat. Sajovic saved the game for starter Kyler Harmeling, who got the win by pitching three sharp innings, yielding just one hit and one unearned run.

“The gutsy pitching of Nicky and Kyler typified how the Lightning battled throughout the season to capture first place,” Lightning Head Coach Gary Stoller said.

Stoller said that seven new players and seven returnees combined to keep the Lightning’s four-year history of winning going. The Newtown club, comprised of 13- and 14-year-old all-stars, dimmed Aspetuck’s upset hopes in the first inning by scoring six runs. Tyler Gibney ripped a single over the third base bag, stole second and moved to third on a wild pitch. Mike LoBosco walked and stole second. Harmeling crushed a fastball for a double to left center to knock in both runners. Mike Scharfenberg followed with a double that bounced off the left-center fence. Scharfenberg scored on an error and Jack Champagne and John Hampford, who reached on errors, came home when John Lebinski smacked a two-run single to left field.

Newtown increased the lead to 7-1 in the second inning when Ryan Daignault walked, stole second and third and scored on an error. In the bottom of the inning, right fielder Dean Baye charged in and made an impressive catch on his knees to help preserve a shutout inning for Harmeling.

The Lightning added two more runs in the fourth inning. Scharfenberg and Ben Stoller, each of whom had two hits, ripped singles to left. Stoller stole second, and Scharfenberg was cut down at the plate on an attempted double steal. Hampford reached on an error, scoring Stoller, before Lebinski smashed an RBI double over the left fielder’s head.

Aspetuck rallied for two fourth-inning runs and may have scored more if not for defensive gems by Champagne and Stoller. With the bases loaded and none out, Aspetuck’s clean-up hitter drilled an apparent single up the middle. Centerfielder Champagne raced in to field the ball and threw a strike to first baseman Stoller to nail the batter a step before he could reach first base. Two batters later, Stoller got the Lightning out of a jam by snagging a hard-hit line drive and stepping on first to nail a runner on an unassisted double play.

Daignault pitched the sixth inning and allowed only an unearned run before setting the stage for Sajovic’s relief performance.

Recent Lightning results leading up to the season finale are as follows:

Lightning 10 Brookfield 9: Down 9-7 in their last at bat, the Lightning rallied for three runs to win the game Monday at Walnut Tree Field in Sandy Hook. Gibney and LoBosco drew walks to start the seventh-inning rally. Pat Thornberg slashed an RBI single to left, and LoBosco tagged up from third base to score the tying run on a sacrifice fly that was crushed by Harmeling. After Scharfenberg walked, Thornberg raced home on a wild pitch and slid under the catcher’s tag with the winning run. Thornberg, Scharfenberg and Hampford finished the game with two hits each and Thornberg scored three runs.

John Lebinski pitched four strong innings, yielding two unearned runs. He was aided by catcher LoBosco, who threw to third baseman Gibney to nail a runner attempting to steal the base. Other nice defensive plays were made by second baseman Daignault and Lebinski. Daignault ranged to the foul line in short right field to make a running catch with two runners on base and no outs in the fifth inning. Playing third base in the last inning, Lebinski snagged a ground ball and cut a runner down on a force play at the plate.

Daignault also tossed a shutout sixth inning. In the seventh inning, Brookfield scored five runs and had the bases loaded with two outs. Sajovic was called in from shortstop to pitch and he put out the fire on a pop-fly to short left field that was aggressively swallowed up by new shortstop Gibney.

New Milford 12 Lightning 10: The Lightning battled multiple times but fell short as the team committed 10 errors. Sajovic led the Lightning offense with two hits and two RBI. The Lightning defensive play of the game was made by third baseman Gibney who dove to catch a blistering line drive and threw to second baseman Daignault for a double play.

Newtown Lightning 15 New Milford 9: Finishing a suspended game that was called for darkness a few weeks ago with Newtown leading 10-9 in the sixth inning, the Lightning erupted for five more runs to put the game on ice last Saturday at Walnut Tree Field.

With runners on second and third in the top of the sixth inning, Champagne clouted the key hit, an RBI-single that scored Scharfenberg. Chris Robinson knocked in a run with a bases-loaded walk and Dan Gustafson drove in a run on a grounder. Sajovic also scored on an error. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Lightning pitcher LoBosco gave up two hits and then battled back for a shutout inning. First baseman Stoller jumped high to haul in a line drive and stepped on first for a double play. LoBosco then struck out the inning’s final batter. In the seventh inning, Stoller, nicknamed “Joba” (after New York Yankee Joba Chamberlain) by his teammates, threw a shutout inning and still hasn’t allowed an earned run.