Winning three playoff games and advancing to the Connecticut Summer Baseball League championship, the Newtown Lightning finished with the most successful season in their three-year history.

The Lightning compiled a 17-6 record against CSBL and non-district teams. After a tough 4-3, extra-inning loss to Redding in the second round of the post-season playoffs, the local squad of 12-year-olds qualified for the championship by fighting back through the Loser’s Bracket of the double-elimination tournament with an 8-4 win over Southbury and a 19-4 demolishing of Redding.

 The Lightning gave regular-season champion Fairfield a scare in the title game. The score was knotted at 2-2 in the third before Fairfield pulled away for a 10-2 victory.

The win over Redding, a district team, was particularly sweet, avenging the heart-breaking playoff loss and an earlier regular-season shutout. The Lightning jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning at Redding. Kaleb Rowe singled and Alex Roche walked before Sean Dardine knocked in Rowe with a single. Ben Stoller walked to load the bases. John Lebinski crushed a mammoth blast to left center that appeared to be a grand slam, but the ball died in the heat and humidity and hit just below the top of the fence. Two runs scored and Lebinski reached first on a 200-foot single.

Up 3-1 in the second inning, the Lightning’s Nicky Sajovic and Rob Andreotta singled, and Sajovic scored on an error by the right fielder. Then the flood gates opened and the Lightning had their best inning of the season in the fourth, sending 15 batters to the plate and scoring 11 runs on seven hits.

Key hits were a triple over the right fielder’s head by Stoller and a double to left field by Thornberg. Sajovic, Andreotta, Mike Scharfenberg, Roche and Thornberg also had singles in the inning.

Starting pitcher Lebinski, who yielded hits to the first two Redding batters of the game, didn’t allow another hit through the first four innings. He struck out four and baffled Redding batters with a blazing fastball and sharp curve.

In the fifth inning, Sajovic reached on an error and Andreotta drilled a ground-rule double down the right field line. It was Andreotta’s third hit of the game and raised the catcher’s average to .389, a jump of more than 130 points in just a few weeks. Both Sajovic and Andreotta scored on errors by the shell-shocked Redding team.

Relief pitcher Dan Gustafson, in his first appearance after a long stint on the disabled list, blanked Redding in the bottom of the inning while baffling the opposition with his trademark “El Duque” leg kick.

In the sixth inning, Rowe smashed a single and scored on a Stoller sacrifice fly to left field.

In the Southbury playoff game, the Lightning jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead against fireballer Ben Namin, a former district player. Rowe and Alex Roche singled and Dardine drove in Rowe with another single. Roche scored on a wild pitch and Dardine scored on an error. After Thornberg reached on a second error, Lebinski drilled an RBI single to score Thornberg.

The Lightning took a 5-1 third-inning lead when Tyler Gibney singled and moved to third on a hard-hit double to right center by Rowe. Roche followed with an RBI grounder to second base.

Pitcher Troy Larsen held Southbury hitless for the first three innings, yielding one unearned run and striking out five batters. Larsen didn’t get any support in the fourth inning, when his teammates made three errors and Southbury narrowed the Lightning lead to 5-4.

In the bottom of the fourth, Dardine ripped a lead-off double and scored when Thornberg crushed an RBI single to left field.

Reliever Ryan Daignault pitched a perfect fifth inning, striking out two batters. In the bottom half. Andreotta smacked a lead-off double to right field, advanced to third on a wild pitch and scored on Scharfenberg’s RBI grounder that was booted by the second baseman. Scharfenberg scored on a Gibney single.

In the sixth and final inning, Southbury loaded the bases but failed to score when Lebinski, the Lightning closer, came in to strike out the side.

Against Fairfield in the title game, the Lightning jumped out to a 1-0 first-inning lead when Roche singled in Rowe, who had reached on a fielder’s choice. Stoller followed with a single, but the Lightning couldn’t push any more runs across in the frame.

Fairfield led 2-1 after three innings, getting just three hits off Lightning pitcher Rowe. The Lightning tied the game in the fourth. Rowe drilled a single to right field and moved to second when the right fielder booted the ball. He stole third and came home on a sacrifice fly to deep right by Dardine. Stoller smacked a ball to right center but was robbed of a hit by fleet-footed Fairfield center fielder Dan Santella.

That was the Lightning’s last chance. Fairfield scored seven fourth-inning runs on errors, two hit by pitches, walks and just one hit. The Lightning couldn’t score the rest of the way. They got a fifth-inning single by Sajovic and loaded the bases in the sixth on walks to Larsen and Gibney, and a single by Rowe.

The Lightning finished the season with a .346 team batting average. Rowe led the team with a record .533 average and a record .582 on-base percentage. Gibney batted .444 with a .556 OBP and established new Lightning records with 28 hits and 29 runs scored. Dardine set a new Lightning RBI record with 25 – four more than Stoller’s 21 in 2005.

Meanwhile, Rowe knocked in 22 runs and Stoller knocked in 21 to lead the way. Rowe led the team with 14 extra-base hits, including 10 doubles and four home runs. Dardine had nine extra-base hits with six doubles and three home runs. Stoller had four doubles, two triples and a home run, and Gibney had six doubles and a triple.

Andreotta was the toughest Lightning hitter to strike out, fanning just twice in 56 at-bats. Roche struck out only twice in 50 at-bats.

On the mound, Daignault had the best earned-run average at 1.86. Gustafson finished at 3.71 and Rowe at 4.13. Lebinski was the strikeout king, fanning 44 batters in 28 innings.

All-Stars

Nine Newtown players were selected for the second annual Connecticut Summer Baseball League all-star game at Glander Field last Sunday.

Tyler Gibney, Rob Andreotta, Ben Stoller, Kaleb Rowe and Sean Dardine represented the Newtown Lightning as Robert Linden, Matt Sabia, Grant Ricketts and Dominic Scarangella represented the Newtown Nighthawks in the nine-inning contest.

The American League, consisting of players from the Nighthawks, league champion Fairfield, Southbury and New Fairfield, edged the National League, 8-7. The National League was comprised of players from the Lightning, Redding, New Milford and Easton.

Rowe, of the National League, broke open a scoreless pitcher’s duel in the fourth inning when he popped a fly ball down the left field line that was misplayed by the left fielder and brought home New Milford’s Zach Guptill and Redding’s Kieran Geyer. In the bottom of the inning, Fairfield’s Brian McAvey scored on a hit by pitch with the bases loaded, and Southbury’s Jon Klein came home on a wild pitch to even the score at 2-2.

Andreotta slashed a fifth-inning single up the middle to score Easton’s Shane Dempsey and give the National League a 4-2 lead. The National League increased the lead to 7-2 in the sixth inning. Stoller reached on a fielder’s choice and moved to third on a single by Redding’s Michael Kearny and an infield single by Dardine. Stoller stole home on a wild pitch, Kearney came home on an RBI single by New Milford’s Zach Guptill and Dardine scored on an error.

But the American League rebounded for four sixth-inning runs with singles by Southbury’s John Ceccolini, Tyler Simmons and Dominick Russo, a single by New Fairfield’s Tom Hart and a long sacrifice fly to right field by the Nighthawks’ Ricketts. After a 30-minute delay because of thunder and lightning, the American League added single runs in the eighth and ninth innings to seal the victory.

Rowe pitched a scoreless second inning, yielding no hits, striking out two and walking one. He also had four putouts playing first base. Stoller finished the game with three assists and one putout, while playing first base and second base.

U9 FIRE

The Newtown Fire 9-year-old All Star team out-slugged Southbury, 18-15, to capture the Brookfield (Wooden Bat) Tournament title last week.

The Fire opened with a run in the top of the first, but Brookfield scored three in the bottom of the frame to take a 3-1 lead. The Fire responded, though, with seven runs in the top of the second and would then score a minimum of three runs each subsequent inning.

However, in the last inning with Newtown leading, 18-7, Southbury did not give up and proceeded to score eight runs and also induce mini heart attacks in the Newtown fan base before the Fire would get the last out and preserve the win.

Michael Doyle (3 walks, 3 stolen bases and a run scored), Sam Czel (2-of-3, RBI, 4 stolen bases, 2 runs scored), Devin Luzietti (single, 2 walks, 2 RBI, 6 stolen bases and 3 runs scored), Declan Sullivan (single, 2 walks, 3 stolen bases and 2 runs scored) and Luke Rustici (single, sac bunt RBI, 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored) powered the offense.

Doyle was sharp at short and behind the dish as Michael Parker sparkled at first and on the mound, retiring the side in both the third and fourth innings.

There were also stellar plays throughout the game which led to the Newtown win, including Dave Matthews bases-loaded triple with two outs in the second inning and subsequent steal of home on the same play … Doyle’s Superman-like running dive up the first base line as catcher to snag a foul ball in the third … Parker’s diving stop as pitcher and throw to Matthews at first to get the last out in the third inning … Luzietti’s sprinting knee slide to snare a line shot in right field and then throw to Jack Procaccini at second base to complete the forced double play to end the fourth … Curt Williamson’s poise as a relief pitcher during a Southbury late inning rally … and Rustici’s scoop and rocket throw to Parker at first base to get the last out of the game and secure the win.

It was a nice finish to a successful summer for the Fire.

The Fire advanced to the championship game by virtue of a 13-3 win over Brookfield in the semi-finals.

The locals exploded for 11 runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back. Parker (3-of-3 with a double, 2 RBI, 3 stolen bases and 2 runs scored), Matthews (triple, 2 walks, 2 RBI, 3 stolen bases and a run scored), Nick Samuelson (single, RBI, and run scored), Luzietti (double, walk, RBI, 4 stolen bases and 2 runs scored) and Sullivan (single, walk, 3 stolen bases and 2 run scored) sparked the offense.

Doyle (SS), Procaccini (2B/SS) and CJ Dunn (2B) combined as middle infielders to record five putouts in the truncated game. Rustici and Parker each pitched two innings for the Fire and combined for six strikeouts and also took turns retiring the side in the second and third innings.