senior babe ruth
Newtown Blue captures championship
Newtown Blue 3, Morrisville Grey 0
Posted: Monday, August 1, 2011 12:00 am | Updated: 5:57 am, Mon Aug 1, 2011.
Pitcher Billy Foote allowed just one hit for the complete-game victory.
MORRISVILLE — Newtown Blue was planning its mound celebration on Saturday night, up four runs with no outs in the seventh inning of the Bucks County Senior Babe Ruth championship game.
Morrisville Grey, though, tied the score and went on to win in extra innings, setting up Sunday night’s showdown for the title.
“I was heartbroken,” said Blue manager Joe DeSanto. “I didn’t get a wink of sleep.”
The rematch had a much happier ending, thanks to a dominant pitching performance by Billy Foote.
Foote, a 6-foot-1, 280-pound right-hander, allowed just an infield hit to lead Newtown Blue to a 3-0 victory over Middletown Grey at Williamson Park.
“This feels great,” said Foote, 16, as teammates dumped water and Gatorade on him. “I absolutely can’t believe this just happened. It’s amazing. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
On Saturday night, the hard-throwing Foote warmed up several times, but didn’t get the call to pitch.
On Sunday, DeSanto planned to start Foote and replace him with ace Steve Malinchok.
“I told him, ‘I’ll do the job for you,’ “ Foote said.
Foote did such a nice job that he went the distance. He walked six and struck out one.
Morrisville’s only hit came on an infield single by Steve Rushton with two outs in the fifth inning. Catcher Josh Chud threw him out trying to steal second base.
Foote threw his glove 50 feet in the air when center fielder Tim Peterson caught the final out.
“He got on a nice roll,” DeSanto said. “He throws hard and was allowing the kids to hit the ball.”
Morrisville lefty Eric Wilcox allowed only five hits and two earned runs. He walked two and struck out two.
“That was a great job by Eric Wilcox pitching,” said Morrisville coach Vince Sibel.
Newtown scored twice in the first inning. Dan O’Shea walked with one out, moved to second on Ty Caldwell’s single and scored on a base hit by Malinchok. Foote followed with a ground-rule double that scored Caldwell.
“Danny’s our Chase Utley,” DeSanto said of the player who started the rally.
In the fourth, Joe Hacker doubled with two outs, went to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch.
Newtown took a three-run lead into the seventh and promptly committed an error to start the inning.
“Billy was throwing strikes, so we weren’t too worried,” said Hacker, a right fielder who gunned down a runner who strayed too far from first base after a fly ball in the second inning. “We fought through it and got the outs.”
The championship party took place at Newtown Pizza. The players had to simply wait an extra day.
“We were all upset because we thought we had it in the bag,” Hacker said of Saturday’s loss. “Tonight, we’re as happy as can be. It’s a great feeling to win the championship.”
Meanwhile, Morrisville Grey lost the championship on its home field for the second year in a row.
Manager Chris Purr, who had been in Florida for his daughter’s softball tournament, returned for the final.
“We hit the ball all over the field, but right to everybody,” Sibel said. “That’s baseball.”
Newtown was the eighth seed in a balanced 18-team playoff. Blue went 6-1 to capture the championship.
“I’m glad the kids were able to bounce back,” DeSanto said of Saturday’s loss. “It was all heart.”
MORRISVILLE — Newtown Blue was planning its mound celebration on Saturday night, up four runs with no outs in the seventh inning of the Bucks County Senior Babe Ruth championship game.
Morrisville Grey, though, tied the score and went on to win in extra innings, setting up Sunday night’s showdown for the title.
“I was heartbroken,” said Blue manager Joe DeSanto. “I didn’t get a wink of sleep.”
The rematch had a much happier ending, thanks to a dominant pitching performance by Billy Foote.
Foote, a 6-foot-1, 280-pound right-hander, allowed just an infield hit to lead Newtown Blue to a 3-0 victory over Middletown Grey at Williamson Park.
“This feels great,” said Foote, 16, as teammates dumped water and Gatorade on him. “I absolutely can’t believe this just happened. It’s amazing. It’s the best feeling in the world.”
On Saturday night, the hard-throwing Foote warmed up several times, but didn’t get the call to pitch.
On Sunday, DeSanto planned to start Foote and replace him with ace Steve Malinchok.
“I told him, ‘I’ll do the job for you,’ “ Foote said.
Foote did such a nice job that he went the distance. He walked six and struck out one.
Morrisville’s only hit came on an infield single by Steve Rushton with two outs in the fifth inning. Catcher Josh Chud threw him out trying to steal second base.
Foote threw his glove 50 feet in the air when center fielder Tim Peterson caught the final out.
“He got on a nice roll,” DeSanto said. “He throws hard and was allowing the kids to hit the ball.”
Morrisville lefty Eric Wilcox allowed only five hits and two earned runs. He walked two and struck out two.
“That was a great job by Eric Wilcox pitching,” said Morrisville coach Vince Sibel.
Newtown scored twice in the first inning. Dan O’Shea walked with one out, moved to second on Ty Caldwell’s single and scored on a base hit by Malinchok. Foote followed with a ground-rule double that scored Caldwell.
“Danny’s our Chase Utley,” DeSanto said of the player who started the rally.
In the fourth, Joe Hacker doubled with two outs, went to third on an error and scored on a wild pitch.
Newtown took a three-run lead into the seventh and promptly committed an error to start the inning.
“Billy was throwing strikes, so we weren’t too worried,” said Hacker, a right fielder who gunned down a runner who strayed too far from first base after a fly ball in the second inning. “We fought through it and got the outs.”
The championship party took place at Newtown Pizza. The players had to simply wait an extra day.
“We were all upset because we thought we had it in the bag,” Hacker said of Saturday’s loss. “Tonight, we’re as happy as can be. It’s a great feeling to win the championship.”
Meanwhile, Morrisville Grey lost the championship on its home field for the second year in a row.
Manager Chris Purr, who had been in Florida for his daughter’s softball tournament, returned for the final.
“We hit the ball all over the field, but right to everybody,” Sibel said. “That’s baseball.”
Newtown was the eighth seed in a balanced 18-team playoff. Blue went 6-1 to capture the championship.
“I’m glad the kids were able to bounce back,” DeSanto said of Saturday’s loss. “It was all heart.”
1 comment:
Hold your heads high guys the whole town is proud of you!!!
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