Babe Ruth Sluggers Third In States; Claim I-84 Title

The 14U Newtown Babe Ruth travel baseball team finished its summer season by placing third in the state tournament and winning the I-84 championship.

Stephen Brittin pitched a seven-inning complete game to lead Newtown to a 3-1 victory over Stamford in game one of the state championship. Jack Procaccini, Sam Czel, and Mason Melillo knocked in one run each and Jaret DeVellis hit a double and scored a key run. Michael Parker threw two runners out at home from first base and Czel nailed a runner at second base on an overthrow at first base to help Brittin thwart the Stamford offense.

In game two, Newtown defeated Ledyard 12-4 behind the pitching of Parker (five innings) and Melillo (two innings). Parker, Czel, DeVellis, Chris Calo, and Michael Doyle all had two hits each. Melillo knocked in three runs and David Matthews had two runs batted in.

In game three, Newtown lost a nail-biter to Norwalk by the score of 3-2. Brittin (five innings) and Matt Maturo pitched well to limit the strong-hitting Norwalk team to three runs. Newtown was down 3-1 going into the bottom of the seventh and scored one run to make it 3-2 with am RBI by Jared Brady. With two outs and the tying run on third base, Norwalk struck out the hot-hitting Melillo to send the home team to the losers bracket. Newtown had numerous chances throughout the game and left 11 base runners on base and could not get timely hits.

Pomperaug defeated Newtown 16-12 in a hitting-filled game four. Newtown took an early 2-0 lead after two innings but Pomperaug scored six runs in the third to take the lead. With Pomperaug ahead 11-4 in the fourth inning, Newtown scored eight runs to tie the game at 12-12. Newtown could not hold the strong Pomperaug bats down over the last three innings, however, and Newtown was knocked out of the state championship tournament by its rival.

In the I-84 playoffs, Newtown defeated Fairfield 17-10 in game one. Czel blasted a home run over the left field fence at Newtown High School to lead the offense with four runs batted in. Mason Melillo knocked in three runs and closed out the game with two strong innings on the mound. Calo and DeVellis each had two hits and two RBI. Matt Elias, Parker, Matthews, and Procaccini each had a hit and knocked in a run.

In game two of the playoffs, Newtown defeated Darien 11-1 behind the strong pitching of Maturo who gave up only one run over five innings. The offense was sparked by Matt Elias, Doyle, DeVellis and Maturo, who had two hits each. Calo, Brady, and Matthews all had one hit.

In game three of the playoffs, Newtown defeated Stamford 5-4 to win the I-84 championship in a well- pitched game. Brittin pitched five strong innings and Maturo pitched the last two innings and recorded the win against the District 1 champions.

Brady stole three bases and scored two runs and Melillo knocked in the winning run with a single in the bottom of the seventh to give Newtown the I-84 championship.