Newtown 11’s Continue Winning Ways In States

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown’s District 5 champion 11-year-old Blue Travel Team picked up in the state tournament where it left off in the district tourney, winning a pair of state tournament games to advance into the state tourney’s winner’s bracket this week. Newtown started with a bang, striking for four runs in the first inning of a 5-2 victory over Hebron in the tournament opener at Woodbridge this past Saturday. On Sunday, Newtown scratched out a 2-1 win over rival Danbury, which had gotten the best of Newtown with three wins this year.

“It was a huge win,” said Ken Roche, one of the team’s coaches. “It was very rewarding.”

But it wasn’t all that surprising for “Big Blue.” The players had a sense that they could find a way to beat their local rivals, Roche said.

“They were positive going in because we played them tough,” said the coach, adding that the previous three meetings with the team from The Hat City were all close. “We knew we could beat them and they knew we could beat them.”

It took a strong pitching effort from Connor Roche, who tossed a complete game, some timely hitting, and clutch defensive plays to pull off the victory.

The win not only avenged those prior defeats, but increased Newtown’s chances of advancing to the New England Regional Tournament, which would put the team one step away from competing in the World Series. Newtown, by staying in the winner’s bracket, maintained its margin for error in the double-elimination tourney as it prepared for a meeting with New Canaan in the winner’s bracket finals. Even with a loss to New Canaan, “Big Blue” would still have a chance to win another game for the right to play in the state championship game, scheduled for Friday. The regional tourney is slated to begin August 2 in New Canaan and Newtown would take in Western Massachusetts in the first round should it qualify, Coach Roche said.

Here are highlights from the first two state tourney contests:

Newtown 5, Hebron 2: In the bottom of the first inning, Colton Smith led off the game with a hard hit double to set the tone for the inning. Jim Parker followed with a double of his own, scoring Colton. Virgil Procaccini singled, moving Parker to third and Julian Dunn crushed the first pitch he saw over the fence in right-center for a three-run homer and a 4-0 lead. Newtown tacked on an insurance run in the third on Procaccini’s double and an RBI by Connor Roche. Hebron could only manage single runs in the third and fourth innings against the outstanding pitching of Procaccini and Parker. The Newtown duo scattered six hits and struck out eight Hebron batters. The fielders turned in six errorless innings and the highlight was a diving grab by Troy Frangione that prevented two runs from scoring.

Newtown 2, Danbury 1: Newtown proved the fourth time was the charm in this rivalry. Roche allowed only the single run with help from his defense in the third inning. Infielder Kevin Conte prevented a ball from going into the outfield, enabling Newtown to record the out at second. With runners on first and third, Danbury tried to take second on a steal, but catcher Julian Dunn made a nice throw to second and Procaccini alertly fired home to Dunn, who blocked the plate and nailed the runner trying to score. Roche finished off the inning with a strikeout to limit the damage to a run. In the fifth, Charlie Huegi led off the inning with a walk and Colton Smith belted a one ball-two strike pitch to deep right center for a game-tying RBI double. Smith just missed a homerun but came around to score the go-ahead run when Parker singled to right. Roche proceeded to close out Danbury in the top of the sixth, recording his sixth strikeout of the game on the final pitch. Roche allowed only four hits in his complete game effort.

The team is managed by Rob “Coach” Frangione, Pat Smith, and Ken Roche.