With a 6-2 win over Brookfield on Tuesday night in Danbury, the Newtown Babe Ruth 10-and-under team reached the championship round of the Cal Ripken State Tournament.

By KIM HARMON

Published: Jul 15, 2005 12:00 am

A year ago â as nine year olds â the locals captured district, state and regional tournament championships in an amazing, magical summer. Through a quirk in the scheduling, the Bombers have yet to finish the district tournament (the normal stepping stone to the states) but will be facing Brookfield in the finals of that one.

In the states, the Bombers await the survivor of the Loserâs Bracket (either Brookfield or Beth-Wood).

Andy Kelley was 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI while Joe Davis ignited a fifth-inning rally with a double and finished with two hits and three RBI. The locals scored one in the first but saw Brookfield rally to take a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth only after Newtown starter Colton Sposta fired three perfect innings.

Jon Hull and Dan Poeltl also pitched well and combined with Sposta on a three-hitter.

The Bombers sit poised on the cusp of a state championship and are also poised on the cusp of a district title after three fairly easy wins in that tournament.

The locals opened with an 11-1 thrashing of Bethel as Kelley and Chad Magoulas each smashed three-run homers. Reid Schmidt and Gary Braun doubled in the first in the first inning, setting the stage for Kelleyâs blast while a series of walks to Hull, Schmidt and Braun, sacrifice flies by Michael Allwein and Kelley, and a single by Poeltl set the stage for Magoulasâ clout.

The game was shortened due to the mercy rule as Sposta and Hull combined on the hill for the win.

The Bombers went on to pound Redding, 19-1, as Poeltl went 4-for-5 and Schmidt went 3-for-3. Braun, Nick Barreto and Dean Demers collected two hits apiece while Allwein drove in a pair of runs. Poeltl pitched two perfect innings while Braun and Davis closed out the game.

The Bombers then tussled with Brookfield (now turning into an arch-nemesis) and came out on top by a score of 8-4. A fast start in the first inning set the tone with Schmidt walking to lead off, Poeltl singling and Braun walking to load the bases. Kelley then drove a double to the fence, scoring two runs and sending the locals on their way. Demers walked to re-load the bases and David Gerics walked to drive in the third run.

Schmidt and Poeltl both walked in the second and came in to score on wild pitches, pushing the Newtown lead to 5-1. Gerics led off the third with a perfect bunt up the first base line and went to third on an overthrow and eventually scored on a fielderâs choice grounder by Hull, making the score 6-2.

The Bombers scored two more runs in the fourth on a singles by Poeltl, Kelley and Demers. The pitching trio of Sposta, Hull and Poeltl kept the potent Brookfield bats contained for most of the game and were backed up by outstanding defense on the field.

But the locals are not through with Brookfield just yet. The two teams will meet in the championship, with the Bombers needing just one win for the crown.

Now, Brookfield may have lost twice to Newtown in the district and state tournaments, but Brookfield was the team that bounced the Bombers from the Leonard Invitational Tournament in Bethel earlier this summer.

The Bombers opened with a 12-2 win over New Canaan as Gerics and Allwein collected two hits apiece. Barreto, Schmidt and Demers also singled while Hull and Poeltl pitched well.

But then the locals suffered an 11-6 defeat at the hands of Woodbridge to drop into the Loserâs Bracket. A nine-run second inning was the big blow as Woodbridge ended a 15-game winning streak dating back to the 2004 district tournament.

In the loss, Schmidt (double) and Kelley banged out two hits apiece while Barreto and Hill singled. Magoulas pitched three innings of effective relief.

But the Bombers rebounded with a 9-0 win over Danbury. Kelleyâs two-run double in the first inning (which scored Davis and Braun) provided all the runs the Bombers would need. But Poeltl still went 3-for-4 with four RBI to help power the offense as Braun went 2-for-2 and Demers singled in a pair of runs. Sposta pitched two innings of shutout ball and whiffed five while Poeltl, Magoulas and Hull provided four innings of scoreless relief.

The locals followed up with an 8-1 win over Bethel as Magoulas and Davis each doubled in two runs, Allwein singled in two runs, and Kelley went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Schmidt and Poeltl then each went 2-for-4 as the Bombers clobbered New Fairfield, 9-3. Demers was 2-for-2 with a double and two RBI, Braun tripled in two runs and Allwein doubled in a run to lead the way.

In the Loserâs Bracket semi-final, Sposta hurled three innings of perfect baseball and led the Bombers to a 5-4 win over New Milford. Poeltl pitched three pressure-packed innings, striking out the final batter with the tying run on second. Poeltl was also 3-for-3 with a double and two RBI as David and Kelley chipped in with RBI singles. Schmidt singled, stole three bases, and scored a pair of runs.

The Bombers were in quite a groove, but Brookfield put a stop to that and pinned an 8-4 defeat on the locals. Sposta and Hull pitched well and Schmidt tripled in a pair of runs and singled in another as the Bombers took a 3-2 lead after four. But the Brookfield bats came alive in the last two innings and the Bombers were sent home.

Nines Fall Short

In Districts

A 4-0 loss to Bethel in the District 4 finals on Tuesday night in New Fairfield may have ended the Newtown 9-and-under All Star teamâs hopes of a tournament title, but the locals are still heading to the Babe Ruth State Tournament next week.

Newtown finished 4-2 in the districts with wins over Danbury, Brookfield and Bethel. The win over Bethel forced the decisive final on Tuesday.

The locals had to open the districts just two days after concluding the Jimmy Fund Tournament in Bethel. A tough 3-2 win over Danbury was followed by a 12-1 win over Brookfield. But a 6-2 loss to Bethel dropped the locals into the Loserâs Bracket and Newtown â playing its second game that day â rebounded with an 11-7 win over Danbury while battling back from three deficits (a four-run rally in the seventh finally settled things).

The locals forced the final with a 7-3 win over Bethel, but Bethel rebounded with an exceptional pitching and defensive display on Tuesday to win the District 4 championship.

In the Jimmy Fund Tournament, the locals won their first four games (4-0 over Southbury, 7-5 over Woodbridge, 4-2 over Norwalk and 9-5 over Danbury) but Danbury â battling back out of the Loserâs Bracket â pinned 9-1 and 6-1 defeats on the locals in the tournament finals to capture the crown.

Newtown is being led by Mike Davis, Justin DeVellis, Stefan Dullinger, Casey Fuller, Cooper Gold, Matthew Hoyt, Erik Laaksonen, Brian âBubbaâ LeBlanc, Robert Linden, Brandon Marks, Tomas Nazer, and Tyler Roberts.

The team is coached by Joe DeVellis, Ray Hoyt, and Bobby LeBlanc.

U13s Win One

Mike Coates pitched four innings of no-hit relief as the Newtown Babe Ruth 13-and-under All Star team defeated New Milford, 7-4, in the opening round of the District 4 tournament.

Peter Young keyed a comeback with a run-scoring single to leftfield. Evan Barreto and Nick Neves also had hits while Keith McGrath reached base three times. Coates added an RBI and Anthony Gruce led the defense with some fine glove work at third base.

Newtown advances to meet rival Danbury in the next round of action.

U11s Begin Run

The Newtown Babe Ruth 11-and-under All Star team has begun its run at a third consecutive Regional tournament championship.

The locals have played 15 games in a 12-and-under travel league already and posted a 10-5 record along the way. In a weekend tournament in New Hampshire, Newtown went 4-0 against top teams from Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

The locals opened District 4 play this week.

Lightning Strikes

The Newtown Lightning 10-year-old All Star team boosted its record to 5-1 in the New Canaan Summer Baseball League with an 11-7 win over Southbury.

The locals bounced back from a 5-1, first-inning deficit by scoring nine times in the second. In the game, Ryan Daignault scored three runs, Ben Stoller knocked in two runs, and Wes Tardie, Kyle Morrissey and Daignault stroked doubles.

Troy Larsen hurled two shutout innings and struck out three batters. Morrissey got the save with two innings of hitless relief and three strikeouts.

The Lightning then fell, 12-10, to New Canaan despite three more solid innings of pitching by Morrissey. Pat Thornberg, Tardie and Morrissey each smacked two hits and a double and Tardie scored three runs.

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John, you raise an important point — these situations are tragic, complicated, and often far less clear-cut than the headlines make them seem. In the Fredericksburg case, the full facts still aren’t publicly known, and like so many of these stories, there’s conflicting information. It was apparently the back door at 3 a.m. — was it justified to use deadly force? We don’t know yet. What we do know is that the homeowner has been charged, and as you rightly noted, that is very serious. But this is also where perspective matters. These cases are quickly sensationalized in the news and on social media, yet when the dust settles, the outcomes are rarely publicized. People forget that in our system, you are innocent until proven guilty. Try to find much coverage of the convication in the case of the Fairfield Realtor vehicle homicide, or updates on the woman who shot her husband a couple of Christmases ago, or even the pedestrian death in Sandy Hook a year or so back. The follow-through simply isn’t there, and public opinion is often shaped only by the first round of headlines. At the end of the day, these situations remind us how split-second decisions in the middle of the night can change lives forever — which is exactly why the right to protect one’s property, home and family is so fiercely debated, and lucky constitutionally protected.

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With a 6-2 win over Brookfield on Tuesday night in Danbury, the Newtown Babe Ruth 10-and-under team reached the championship round of the Cal Ripken State Tournament.

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