A baseball team that won a New England championship as 14-year-olds and made it all the way to the semifinals of the Babe Ruth World Series in Virginia last summer may have been one or two hits away from a similar run as 15-year-olds this year.
But after a 9-0 victory against Winchester last Tuesday put Newton in the Eastern Mass. semifinals, Newton stranded the bases loaded in both the sixth and seventh innings of a 4-0 loss to Plymouth on Friday that ended its tournament run.
?They really went deep last year so expectations were high this year,? Newton coach Elliott Loew said. ?But we said to them at the beginning that all these teams are a year older, and bigger, stronger with more experience under their belts. We knew it was going to take a combination of skills and good fortune to get back (to New Englands). The skills were there and the fortune was until our last game.?
Newton had two chances to rally against Plymouth late despite only getting one hit and striking out 12 times.
In the sixth, Dylan Sbordone and Spencer Anderson both walked before Christian Cox coaxed an eight-pitch walk to load the bases with two outs. But Plymouth starter Brian Christopher bore down and got the strikeout to end the inning.
Mikey Barbieri led off the seventh with a two-strike infield hit to break up the no-hitter. Kevin Alexy and Doug Friedberg followed with walks that brought the tying run to the play when Christopher closed it out with a called strike three and a pop out to end the game.
?We had a shot,? Loew said. ?We were hoping he would get a little wild and that would give us a chance. Every guy on our bench was hopping around, making noise, and doing everything he could to get us going.?
Benny Wanger pitched a complete game in defeat in the final game with three straight shutout innings to keep Newton in contention.
Wanger and Alexy both homered in Newton?s 9-0 victory against Winchester on Tuesday to earn the spot in the semifinals.
Tommy Hodgson pitched a complete game in the victory and Newton turned four double plays. Cox sparked three of the twin-killings at shortstop and Theo Resnick doubled a Winchester runner off first after making a grab in right field.
?Our defense was superb,? Loew said. ?Our outfield defense was terrific and our infield defense ? especially Christian Cox ? was great as well.?
Tuesday?s game was scoreless into the third when Cox singled and Curtis Beatrice singled him home.
Newton then scored three times in the fourth inning. Wanger homered leading off the inning for a 2-0 lead. Alexy, James Pati, Sbordone and Hodgson then followed with singles that made it 4-0.
In the fifth, Wanger singled and Alexy made it 6-0 with a home run. In the sixth, Joe DeNucci singled, stole two bases and scored on a Beatrice single after Hodgson walked. Hodgson then scored on Barbieri?s sacrifice fly. Wanger completed the scoring when he doubled in Beatrice.
(Scott Souza can be reached at 781-398-8006 or ssouza@wickedlocal.com.)
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