Date: Fri 08-Sep-1995

Publication: Bee

Author: TOMW

Illustration: I

Quick Words:

Baseball-History

Full Text:

Baseball History

The Newtown High baseball team began competing in the WCC in 1961 under coach

Harold DeGroat. Through 35 years and five baseball coaches, NHS would win a

total of five WCC titles winning in 1972, 79, 82, 85, and 90.

The Indians would also play in a total of three state championship games,

losing all three.

l  Though it didn't capture a conference title in its first season in 1961,

the NHS baseball team did play to a winning record of 8-6 and led the WCC in

batting with a .322 team average. Leading the 61 Indians at the plate were

Roger Fazzino (.385), Rich Sperling (.371), Robert Wilkes (.350), and Lee

Benedict (.325).

Although they didn't post many winning records through the decade of the

sixties - under coaches DeGroat and Bob Sveda - the NHS teams saw dominant

performances from such star players as Dan Lawlor, William Beardsley, Paul

Nelson, Jim Glover, Mike Cragin, and Jim Goodrich who was named the team's MVP

in both 1968 and 1969.

l  After two years in the new decade, the 1972 baseball team put together not

only the first WCC championship team, but the first NHS baseball championship

team in any league.

Behind first-year coach Zygmunt Olbrys, Newtown turned in an 11-4 season.

Courtenay Hough was Newtown's leading hitter that spring with a .470 average

and Mike Newman hit .400. The Indians pitching staff consisted of two

pitchers; Scott McNally (7-2, 2.29 ERA, 89K's) and George Matern (4-2, 2.33

ERA, 55K's).

The school's first-ever baseball champs also consisted of players Carl

Berquist, Paul Schierloh, Bill Casey, and Gary Stickkel.

l  Olbrys and the Indians were 10-6 the following season before suffering

through a losing season in 1974. The 1975 Indians saw sophomore Gary Pepe lead

the WCC in batting (.477) as they played to a record of 10-8.

l  Newtown's next winning team didn't come until two years later when a

sophomore named Steve Kordish and helped the Indians to a 13-5 record and a

second-place finish in the WCC. Kordish pitched to a 7-1 record and was one of

the leading hitters.

In his junior season Kordish joined forced with the likes of Tom Paoletti,

Chuck Guck, and Gary Andrews as the team went 11-9 and finished just short of

the conference's post season. In a game against Immaculate on May 8, Kordish

pitched a perfect game, retiring all 21 men who faced him.

The Best Yet

The 1979 NHS baseball team turned in its best season in history behind the

11-0 pitching record of Kordish who fanned 103 batters during the year.

With their ballfield in repair throughout the season, Newtown played all 22 of

its games on the road, winning 18 of them.

The Indians faced rival Joel Barlow in a three-game series for the WCC crown

and swept both.

In Game One, Kordish fanned 11 in a complete game 3-0 win getting offensive

support from Chuck Guck and George Oberstadt who both had two hits in the

game. Steve Danuszar's base hit plated two runs and Steve Paoletti plated the

game's third.

Before Game Two of the WCC final was played, Newtown competed in the state

tournament and rode the arms of Kordish and Tim Schick all the way to the

state finals. Newtown beat Darien 6-4 as Jim Tooke and Ed Marks drove in two

runs each and Kordish chalked up his ninth victory, and then beat Platt Tech

5-2 as Schick pitched for the win and Oberstadt drove in two runs with two

hits. In the state final, though, the Indians fell 4-1 to Waterford as

Waterford ace Chuck Rousseau fanned 11 in a two-hitter.

Back at Barlow that week, though, Kordish improved to 11-0 and combined with

Oberstadt to drive in four runs as Newtown defeated Barlow, 6-4 to win the

second WCC title in school history.

Kordish, Oberstadt, Guck, Paoletti, and Marks were all named All-WCC.

l  Coach Olbrys took a year's leave of absence and the 1980 team was headed up

by a new coach, Scott McGovern. Behind star Steve Paoletti, McGovern and the

Indians started the season 10-3, but went into a downward spiral losing their

final five games to finish 10-8 and miss out on the Wild Division title and

post season.

l  Olbrys made his return in 1981 and the Indians responded with a winning

season and found themselves matched up with Barlow in the WCC semis. The

Indians lost the semifinal game 6-3, but behind the pitching of Pete Weaver

and Bob Hickson, and the hot hitting of Ed Shortt Bill Nicholson, and Mark

Pottinger, rebounded in time to win three state-tourney games and capture the

Region IV title before falling 10-5 to Waterford in the state semis. Shortt

set a school record with a 6-for-6 performance against Barlow in the Region IV

championship.

A " Crummy " 82 Season

NHS coach Olbrys affectionately referred to his shortstop Joe Crimi as "

Crummy, " but the junior left-handed hitter was anything but that. It was

Crimi's late-season heroics that guided the Indians to their third WCC title

and second appearance in the state finals.

During the season, Newtown lost three of its last four games, but won the

Briggs by virtue of a 10-5 record setting up a WCC semifinal with Immaculate.

Tied 3-3 with two outs in the top of the ninth, Crimi slashed a two-run single

and Newtown won the game 6-3 setting up a WCC title game with 17-0 Bethel.

Newtown trailed Bethel 6-4 in the bottom of the eighth inning at Bethel High

School and Bethel pitcher Paul Zegray was close to getting out of a bases

loaded jam. But, with two outs, Crimi connected on a fastball and drove it

over the fence in right field for a dramatic game (and WCC title)-winning

grand slam.

Crimi went 7-for-8 as Newtown beat Abbott Tech and Bunnell in the first two

games of the state tournament, and in a 5-4 third-round win over Bullard

Havens struck out for the first time all season (in 98 at bats).

In the state semifinals against Torrington, Jeff Schick grounded a two-run

single up the middle in the bottom of the ninth as Newtown pulled out a 6-5

win and advanced to the state final.

There the Indians lost 11-4 to St Bernard's of Uncasville in the last game of

Olbry's baseball coaching career.

TU

In 1983 jayvee skipper Tony Urban took over as NHS varsity baseball coach and

needed only two years to get back to the finals.

The 1985 Indians got a dramatic grand slam from Doug Rose in the WCC

semifinals against Abbott Tech as they won 5-2 and went on to face Masuk in

what would become the school's newest arch rivalry.

The Indians spotted Masuk six runs in the first inning of the WCC title game,

but spent the next three frames picking away. Roger Bjornberg, Dave Constant,

Jeff Saputo, Rose, and Jeff James collected two hits each during the comeback

effort and James ended up stroking the two-run single that broke the tie and

made the score 8-6.

Newtown pitchers Brett Gacek and Pat Sullivan sealed it from there, having

shut Masuk out over the final six innings to bring home the school's fourth

conference crown.

Those 85 Indians then went on an exciting state-title run that ended in a 4-1

loss to North Haven in the state championship game at Muzzy Field in Bristol.

Newtown had won three one-run ballgames to get to that state final, but though

the school would have great baseball teams in the ten years that would follow,

it would not win three more state tournament games in all ten combined.

l  The 1986 team failed to reach post season in the WCC, but during the

campaign junior outfielder Billy Malcom entered into the NHS record book when

he turned in a school-record .537 batting average. Brian Leavitt hit .422 that

year as well while Gacek pitched to a 6-1 mark.

l  During the next three years, Newtown put together solid seasons reaching

the WCC playoffs in all three. The 1987 team, behind Pat Sullivan, beat

Immaculate 10-5 in the semifinals before losing the WCC championship 14-6 to

Masuk. In that year's final, Malcom hit a tape-measure home run onto the

tennis courts beyond the left field fence over 400 feet away.

In 1988, Newtown tied with Masuk for the Briggs title with an 11-5 record and

ended up losing at Brookfield in the semifinals to end the season.

The 1990 team, again back in the WCC semis, got an RBI single with two outs in

the bottom of the seventh to beat Central Catholic of Norwalk 5-4 and advance

back to the title contest.

There, though, Newtown lost 5-3 to Masuk.

Notably, Paul Pedone was voted the WCC's most valuable player becoming the

first of four NHS baseball players to earn that honor.

l  Newtown and Masuk met again in the 1990 WCC finals when Mike Waterbury

slammed a two-run single to beat New Fairfield 6-5 in the semifinal showdown.

In the championship game, WCC-MVP Jerry Reidy had three hits and Mike Toth

added a pair as Newtown beat Masuk 6-2 to take the school's fifth and

last-ever conference title.

Reidy (.420, 31 runs) was named to the All-State team, while Dave Hough (.415,

25 RBI), Mike Toth, and Scott Smith (10-1 pitching) were named All-WCC.

Dave Hough was a member of NHS's last WCC championship baseball team and his

father Courtenay Hough was a member of the school's first titlist. Both led

their respective teams in extra base hits and RBI, and both were All-WCC.

The Nineties

The 1991 Indians were led by Mike Waterbury, who was voted the MVP of the WCC.

Against Bethel and its star pitcher Sean Fesh in the WCC semifinals, NHS

baseball history almost repeated itself when Waterbury hit a grand slam home

run over the right field fence in the bottom of the sixth inning (as Joe Crimi

had against Bethel in the 82 finals). Only Waterbury's bomb came with Newtown

trailing 9-1. The Indians lost 9-5.

l  Behind WCC MVP Matt Daly and All-WCC selections Mike Bogdan and Jamie

Quinlan, the 1993 Indians played to a 15-9 overall record. The team got back

to the WCC finals after beating Barlow 14-13 in the semifinals on a

seventh-inning sacrifice fly by Matt Zelno, but fell 8-2 to Masuk in the WCC

title game.

The 1994 squad missed out on the post season altogether finishing 9-10 and

failing to reach the state tournament for the first time in over a decade, but

the young squad rebounded in 1995 for the WCC's final year.

Behind the bats of Jason Winsett, Chris Hayward, Matt Zavatsky, and Matt

Zelno, Newtown played winning baseball until running into Immaculate in the

WCC semifinals. The Mustangs and their sophomore pitching star Sean Lomas did

away with the Indians, 10-6.

Zelno and Winsett were named to the last-ever All-WCC team.

At the conclusion of the season, Tony Urban resigned as the team's head coach

before tragically dying of a heart attack during summer vacation.