WEST WARWICK, Rhode Island – With a trip to the Cal Ripken World Series on the line, the Newtown Babe Ruth Baseball 10-and-under All Stars saw their miraculous season come to an end with a 12-7 loss to Norton, Massachusetts, in the championship game of the New England Regional Tournament.

The locals reached the title game with a 5-2 win over Hudson, Massachusetts, in the semifinals. The loss ended a tremendous two-year run for the team, which has gone 30-6 in tournament play and won six tournaments, including last year’s New England Regional.

Newtown was also the only returning state champion at the New England Regional this year.

In the semi-final game Newtown relied on its pitching and defense while getting just enough scoring to secure the win. R.J. Roman pitched four shutout innings, leaving Sean Maher to close it out. Mikey Tobin handled several chances at first base flawlessly while Richard Andreotta and Cody Williams were solid in the outfield. In the third inning, Daniel Lynch singled in Erik Hoffman with the first run, then scored in front of Ryan Schmidt to provide Newtown with the lead. Johnny Fracker added two hits and scored a run in the win.

The finals started out much differently, however, as the Norton bats came alive in the second and third innings when they scored eight runs on nine hits. In the fifth inning Newtown mounted a valiant comeback, scoring five runs. Lynch, Schmidt, Brandon Rosenberger, Fracker and Tobin all had hits in the inning, while Bryan Czel, Hoffman and Brian Reed drove in runs.

In the sixth inning, after Norton pushed its lead to 12-5, Newtown made another charge, scoring two more runs and leaving two runners aboard when the game ended. Fracker and Tobin had hits in the inning, scoring Schmidt and Rosenberger.