Newtown 10's Capture Cal Ripken District 5 Title

(Submitted by Laura Terry)

The Newtown Wolf Pack 10-year-old travel baseball team continued its strong showing this season by capturing the Cal Ripken District 5 tournament title on Saturday, July 2. 

With the victory over archrival Southbury in the championship game, Newtown earns a spot in the Cal Ripken state tournament, which starts July 9.

Newtown started the five-team double-elimination tournament with a decisive 10-0 victory over Oxford. Luke Melillo and Kyle Roche led the Wolf Pack offense with doubles while Jack Miller, Josh Dunn, Jamey Hobar, and Shane Demers contributed with run-scoring singles.

Next up was a second-round showdown with archrival Southbury.  Newtown emerged with a 5-3 victory fueled by Luke Melillo’s double followed by key hits from Cole Demirjian, Jack Miller, and Jamey Hobar.  Newtown’s pitching and defense held Southbury scoreless until the 5^th inning behind strong pitching from Robert Murray and Ben Terry and a nice running catch by Robert DiSibio.

Newtown faltered in the next meeting with Southbury falling 4-3 in seven innings. Newtown got off to an early lead sparked by Tess Davenport’s two singles, but could not overcome a late-inning rally by Southbury despite a lead-off double by Jimmy Davies in the 7^th and a brilliant three-inning pitching performance by Robert Murray.

In the final game, the Newtown Wolf Pack showed it had the stuff of champions. Despite being without their starting pitcher and falling behind early, the Wolf Pack hung together and fought back. 

Josh Dunn’s RBI single scored Jack Miller to get Newtown on the board and Luke Melillo’s strong pitching performance kept Newtown in the game.

Ben Terry’s two-RBI double tied the game and sparked two more runs with key hits from Robert Murray, Robert DiSibio, and Josh Dunn. Kyle Roche closed the game on the mound with two strong, hitless innings, giving Newtown a 5-3 victory.