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Babe Ruth Prep, 13-Year-Olds

BY TOM WYATT

The last time you read about this gang of baseballers was last summer when the

majority of them made up the highly-regarded Newtown Little League All-Star

team. Well, they're back, only now they call themselves the Newtown Babe Ruth

Baseball Prep Division All-Stars.

Now they're teenagers, a year older, and hopefully a year wiser.

Together they advanced through the first two round of the Babe Ruth District

Four Tournament with relative ease last week, disposing of New Milford and

Brookfield by scores of 10-7 and 14-0 thus advancing to the District

Semifinals. "As long as we can keep their heads on straight we have a pretty

good team here," said Newtown coach Tim Moulton following his team's

five-inning rout of Brookfield on Wednesday night, July 5.

Hosting the game at Walnut Tree Field, down by the lake, Newtown got all over

the visitors in the bottom half of the first inning, scoring seven quick runs

after starting pitcher Kyle McCullough had retired Brookfield in the top half.

In the explosive first inning, Newtown got clutch hits from McCullough, Larry

Isler, and Erik Martenson in addition to four walks that were issued.

In the second Newtown made it 10-0 on consecutive leadoff singles by Ken

Seferi, Isler, and Robert Martinez, a walk to Justin Dahlmeyer that pushed

home a run. Newtown scored its final run of the inning when Martenson was hit

by a pitch to force home another.

Ray Reynolds relieved McCullough in the third inning and though he allowed

Brookfield's only hit of the contest leading off the frame, he cooled down and

retired them without issue in both the third and fourth innings.

In the bottom of the fourth inning, Newtown put the game away when three men

walked with one out and Isler plated all three with a base hit that was played

into a triple. Isler himself then scored the game's final run (his sixth in

two games) on a groud ball out. He finished the ballgame 3-for-4 while

Martinez finished 3-for-3, the two combining for six of Newtown's nine hits in

the contest.

With the victory, Newtown advanced to the semifinals where they will face

Danbury on July 7, at Walnut Tree.

Newtown's first round game wasn't the cake walk that the second one turned out

to be. In fact, if not for the pitching dominance of Kenny Seferi, it may have

resulted in an L.

"He's the best pitcher I've seen in the area this year," said coach Moulton.

"We've seen 22 teams and he's the best we've seen without a doubt."

Seferi took the mound for Newtown in the bottom of the fourth inning with his

team down 4-2 on the scoreboard against visting New Milford on Monday, July 3.

After his three-inning stint, in which he fanned six hitters while not

allowing a hit, Newtown was on top 10-4 and in command.

Newtown had scored its first two runs thanks to the clutch hitting of Ray

Reynolds, the night's offensive star for the locals.

Reynolds scored Isler with a second-inning groundout, plated Seferi with a

third-inning single, and then tied the game in the top of the fifth with a

two-run triple that chased home both Seferi and Isler.

With the game tied at 4-4, Reynolds then scored the eventual winning run on a

base hit by teammate Steve Moulton.

Danny Arsenault, Dahlmeyer, Martenson, and McCullough also added hits in the

five-run Newtown fifth that made it a 7-4 contest.

Isler, who finished the night 2-for-3 with two walks, singled and scored on a

single by Les Russell in the sixth inning before Newtown added another pair in

the seventh on hits by Martenson and McCullough, and a two-run double by

Seferi. Ray Reynolds pitched the bottom of the seventh for Newtown, and though

he allowed three runs on four hits, was able to close the door.

Martenson, McCullough, Seferi, Isler, and Reynolds - the first five hitters in

the Newtown order - all collected two hits in the game.

The District final will be played on Sunday, July 9, at 1 pm at Bethel High

School.