Newton Fans 10 as Cannons Win Hungerford Final

Sam Newton stood on the mound in his very first inning and saw Hartford runners surrounding him.

The humidity was thick enough to serve for dessert. Raindrops fell from a heavy sky. Mosquitos and swarming gnats voraciously descended on a gathering of about 200 human targets.

Newton and his West Hartford Cannons U12 team had played a lot of baseball in a short time so fatigue was in the coaches’ minds. To further cloud the scene, the resolute visitors from the capital city’s south side had no outs.

And little did manager Kelly Costello and his boys know at the time how powerful a pitching performance Hartford right-hander Marcel Diaz was about to turn in. Runs would prove to come at a premium.

Up to the plate strode Hartford cleanup hitter Angel Mejia, a manchild whose intimidating presence in the left-handed batters’ box had folks talking Big Papi. Mejia put together one of those quality at-bats — fouling off multiple pitches, some of them opposite-field tomahawks that made spectators skedaddle.

Newton struck the big man out. He proceeded to whiff the next two hitters to leave the bases loaded. He started the second inning with two more. The determined right-hander found his rhythm.

Newton scattered eight hits and fanned 10 in a gutsy route-going effort Sunday night that led the Cannons to a 4-3 win in the championship game of the 17^th annual Ken Hungerford Tournament.

“I thought that we were going to have a rough first inning but then got some good outs and we were ready,” Newton said humbly.

Costello has been coaching Newton for three years with the Mr. Trophy team during the spring season.

“He’s unflappable,” Costello said. “He’s not afraid to keep coming and that’s exactly what he did there.”

Once Newton fanned Mejia, he blew away the next two hitters and was on his way, getting big outs from his defense.

Luis Mendez and Javi Medina, Hartford’s first and second batters, set the table in the third with singles just as they had done in the first.

Mejia’s infield hit scored Mendez with the game’s first run, but Medina was subsequently caught off third by catcher Kenny Andrews to end the inning.

In the fourth, Andy Cruz led off with a single and pulled into second on West Hartford’s lone error of the game. He moved to third on a sacrifice bunt.

DeDe Canada followed with a drive to left field. Scott Riley snagged the liner and threw a strike to the plate. Andrews blocked the plate and applied the tag for a double play.

Meanwhile, Diaz had silenced the Cannons.

He churned through the first 10 hitters in order. In the fourth, the Hartford defense broke down and the Cannons took advantage.

With one out, Newton reached on an infield error. Another permitted Tim Dickson to reach. A wild pitch put runners on second and third for the heart of the order.

Joe Celio laced West Hartford’s first hit into right field to score Newton and tie the game. Nick LeConche followed with a single over the second base bag to score Dickson with the lead tally.

“We felt confident the second time through that they could scratch something out,” Costello said. “I thought the first time through would be tough but the way we’ve been hitting! That’s our fifth game in about 48 hours. We scored 20 runs in a game on Friday and our hitting has just gone all the way through.”

On both hits, Hartford outfielders threw the ball home instead of using a cutoff man, enabling the batters to take second base. The mistakes hurt the representatives of Mayor Mike’s Little League when a ground ball to second by Jack Barry allowed Celio to score the third run of the inning.

The mistakes may have temporarily deterred Diaz but there were no long-lasting effects. He went the distance, yielding just four hits, walking none and striking out three.

“Marcel’s really had a strong year for us,” Hartford manager Tim Cheever. “He comes out throwing, he’s consistent and that’s what he’s done since April. He’s right on the money but we made a couple mistakes behind him.”

The Cannons (26-5) pushed across their lone earned run in the fifth, and it proved to be the game-winner.

Scott Riley drilled a one-out double in the left center field gap. With two out, Andrews lofted a fly ball to right that fell for an RBI triple.

Hartford battled until the last out of the sixth and final frame.

Medina, perfect in three at-bats, smacked a one-out double, moved to third on a passed ball and scored on a wild pitch. Mejia gave a repeat performance of his first-inning at-bat, extending it with foul balls before plowing a homer over the fence in left.

Newton, flirting with the pitch limit, struck out Andy Cruz looking to end it.

The Cannons were fresh off a gold medal performance at the Nutmeg Games, beating a Southington all-star team in the championship. They also toppled teams from Simsbury and a Berlin-based team, the Hartford County Reds, en route to Nutmeg gold in the 12-and-under tournament.

“Coming into the summer, we knew we had good talent, the skill level was there but we weren’t sure if it was a group that had the confidence to win a game like the one we won tonight,” Costello said after the Hungerford Tournament final. “Most of my commentary in the postgame tonight was that from where they started to where they are now is just unbelievable.

“At our kickoff meeting, I stated my number one goal was not to win tournaments, not to hit home runs but to develop players. Mission accomplished!”

West Hartford 4, Hartford 3

Ken Hungerford Tournament

12-Year Old Championship

(At Wolcott Park, West Hartford)

Hartford                                   West Hartford

                            ab  r  h  bi                               ab  r  h  bi

Mendez c             3  1  2  0       Newton p             3  1  0  0

Medina ss            3  1  3  0       Dickson 2b           2  1  0  0

Diaz p                 2  0  0  0         Celio 1b               2  1  1  1

Mejia cf               3  1  2  2       LeConche rf          2  0  1  1

Cruz 3b               3  0  1  0        Barry 3b              2  0  0  1

Ramos 2b            1  0  0  0       Ritter ss               2  0  0  0

Canada 1b           2  0  0  0     Verrengia eh          2  0  0  0

Samboy eh          2  0  0  0       Riley lf                  2  1  1  0

Oquendo rf          2  0  0  0       Berube cf              2  0  0  0

Gutierrez lf          1  0  0  0       Andrews c             2  0  1  1

Martin lf              1  0  0  0

Totals                23  3  8  2       Totals                21  4  4  4

Hartford              001 002 – 3  8  2

West Hartford      000 31x – 4  4  1

E – Ramos, Diaz, LeConche. DP – West Hartford 1. LOB – Hartford 4, West Hartford 2. 2B – Medina, Riley. 3B – Andrews. HR – Mejia. S – Ramos. CS – Medina.

Hartford

                             ip   h   r  er  bb  so

Mendez L                 5    4   4   1   0   3

West Hartford

Newton  W               6    8   3   2   1  10

WP – Diaz, Newton 2. PB – Andrews 2. A – 165. T – 1:11.