Locals Go Down Swinging in Regional Finals

It was a tough end to a great week of baseball for New Canaan’s All-Star 11s.

After winning their way into the final round of tournament play in the Cal Ripken Northeast Regional Championships here—defeating the state champions from Rhode Island, Maine, and Massachusetts—New Canaan was overcome by the very team they had trounced two days earlier, to come out as Runners Up in the tournament.

Norton, MA, unseated New Canaan to win the Northeast Regional championship after winning two close games of a finals double-header Friday 10-8, and 5-4.

They filled their off-days with activities to ease the pressure, including swims in a nearby lake, go-karting, and a trip to the Maine State Fair in Skowhegan, but New Canaan showed some uncharacteristic signs of nerves on Friday night, perhaps because they were defending their perch at the top of the bracket. Compounding the butterflies was some tricky lighting, which led to some key errors in both games that allowed Norton to gain an edge that New Canaan could not get back in time to earn the wins.

Game One

Zack Smith, who had been off the mound for most of the tournament due to arm soreness, was back on the hill to start for New Canaan. Norton quickly put up two runs on three hits. Smith struck out two and Justin Clark caught a fly ball in right field to end the top half of the first inning.

New Canaan answered back, scoring five runs in the bottom of the first off of Norton’s ace pitcher Keenan Coffey. Kyle Levasseur led off with a second-pitch 220-foot blast into the bleachers (his second homerun of the tournament), and was followed by hits from seven out of the next eight batters. Coffey would give up five runs and pitch to the entire batting order before retiring the side with a score of 5-2 in favor of New Canaan at the end of the first.

Norton responded in the top of the second after Smith walked in a run on loaded bases with one out. Zachary Allen replaced Smith and prevented further damage with a strikeout and ground out to David Giusti at third, who made a running scoop-and-flip to second for the out.

The two pitching Zacharys—Feeney for Norton, and Allen for New Canaan—battled for the next two innings, preventing further scoring. Then New Canaan pulled further ahead in the bottom of the fourth on a double by Smith, single by Alex LaPolice, RBI single by Allen, and RBI single by Mike Collins to end the inning with a 7-3 advantage over Norton.

But the fifth inning would prove to be New Canaan’s undoing. With two outs—including a spectacular diving catch by Kane Curtin in left field—Norton racked up five runs after loading the bases and batting in runs before a crack by Zachary McKenna into deep center was caught by Smith to end the inning with a score of 8-7 in favor of Norton.

Norton reliever Justin Ireland kept New Canaan at bay in the bottom of the fifth to preserve their lead, and then the team added a deuce in the top of the sixth on hits by Kevin Sheridan, Feeney, and Michael Capprini.

New Canaan brought fans to their feet at the bottom of the sixth after loading the bases with one out on hits by Allen and Collins, and a walk to Curtin. Shortstop Jimmy Fahey belted an RBI single up the middle to score Allen, but that would be as far as New Canaan would get, as Norton reliever Paul Carramanica struck out the next two. New Canaan’s 10-8 loss triggered the “If” game, which would start 30 minutes later.

Game Two

The second and final game would determine the Regional Champion. Exhausted and with everything on the line, both teams were anxious as they took the field. Playing for the first time under the lights, both teams had some trouble adjusting to the shadows, but New Canaan wasted no time putting their bats on the balls.

Leading off for New Canaan, Kyle Levasseur, who had homered on the second pitch in Game One, was still hot, hitting a one-hopper to the 247-foot wall for a lead-off triple to start the first. Justin Clark went down swinging, but Zack Smith brought Levasseur home on a pop-fly single that was dropped by the first baseman. Alex LaPolice followed with an RBI double on another dropped ball, enabling Smith to score from first. Zachary Allen closed out the inning on an RBI triple to put New Canaan up 3-0.

With David Giusti on the hill for New Canaan, Norton managed to score on a bizarre play. Jacob John stole second on a passed ball pitched to Keenan Coffey. Catcher Mike Collins tossed the ball back to Giusti but Giusti lost sight of the ball in the lights and, as John went for third, the ball hit Giusti in the face, bounced off and rolled to the third base line. The home plate ump ruled the contact “player interference” and awarded the base runner with an extra base, which sent John to the plate to score the run. After walking Coffey, New Canaan ended the inning on a stunning double-play on a punch up the middle by Zachary McKenna that was fielded by Jimmy Fahey at short for the out at second and then fired to Alex LaPolice at first to finish the inning with a score of 3-1 in favor of New Canaan.

Both pitchers—Giusti for New Canaan and Paul Carramanica for Norton—shut down each others’ batters in the second, and then Norton pulled ahead in the bottom of the third with a series of singles on loaded bases. Zack Smith re-entered the game midway through the third with bases loaded and one out, and a 3-3 score. Jason O’Neil hit an RBI single, and Feeney walked to put the score at 5-3, before Carramanica hit into a double play to end the inning.

Carramanica retired New Canaan in order in the top of the fourth, and Smith kept Norton from scoring in the bottom of the inning.

New Canaan battled back in the top of the fifth. Smith led off with a double to the center field wall. LaPolice advanced Smith to third on a sacrifice grounder, and Zachary Allen sent him home with an RBI single to put the score at 5-4 in favor of Norton. But that’s as close as New Canaan would get as the game ended with Norton earning the victory and the Northeast Regional Championship crown. New Canaan's Zack Smith was named game MVP by the tournament committee.

“We had a great week and made a lot of friends,” said Coach Paul Giusti at the end-of-game ceremonies. To the Norton players he said, “You guys put up a tough, tough battle and we really respect what you did. To our boys, it’s tough sometimes when you come up on the short end but we stuck true to our values. We’ve trusted each other, we’ve had a commitment to excellence, we’ve cared for each other and we’ve done it for the whole season. We came up just a little short against a tough team, but hold your heads high because you did a terrific job all season.”

Indeed they did. The All-Stars ended the season with a win-loss record of 9 and 3 throughout the Districts, States, and Regionals, and captured the District and State championships for the second year in a row.