In some ways, it seemed the Newton Post 440 American Legion baseball team's season ended too soon with last night's 4-2 loss to Chelmsford in the opening game of the Zone 5 playoffs.
By late in the game, it looked as if maybe it didn't end soon enough.
Eyeing the upset in the postseason play-in game, Newton (9-9-1) hung around with Chelmsford (18-2) for most of the night and even brought the tying run to the on-deck circle in the seventh. But, by then, Post 440 already had one ejection from the bench, and another in the stands, after a heated exchange between Newton fans and an umpire stationed behind first base.
Amid the deteriorating situation off the field, Newton nearly pulled out an unlikely victory on it when R.J. Kenney blasted a double to plate Kyle Ross, who had singled, pulling Post 440 within 4-2 with one down in the seventh. But Kenney was gunned down at third on a nice play as he tried to stretch the whack into a triple, and a groundout promptly ended the season.
``They were a good team,'' said Newton coach Manny Connerney of Chelmsford. ``I'm not really for this (playoff) format. Last year, we were in the same position as they were with 17 wins (playing essentially a .500 team in a single-elimination playoff).
``There were a couple of plays there where, if we get the hit, it's different. They made a couple of good plays there too.''
The best of the plays came in the top of the fourth and cut short Newton's best threat until the final frame. Down 4-1, Greg Schwartz and Max Ricciuti hit back-to-back singles leading off the inning and Alex Clark hit a bomb to center field that appeared ticketed to plate two runs. Instead, the Chelmsford outfielder made a tremendous backtracking catch and Newton was held off the scoreboard when a fly out and strikeout followed.
``That ball's another 10 feet to the left and it bounces off the hill over there,'' Connerney said.
Chelmsford took control of the game with a unearned run in the first, two in the second on a pair of singles, two stolen bases and a triple that got stuck on the center field hill and remained in play due to Ayotte Field's peculiar ground rules, and another run in the third on a walk, two wild pitches and a sacrifice fly.
Newton's only run came in the top of the second when Tim Bialecki doubled and later scored on a steal of home. Though Connerney loudly questioned Bialecki's judgment as he took off down the line toward the surprised Chelmsford catcher, Bialecki beat the throw and slid under the tag to tie the game at 1-1.
But Newton only had four hits the rest of the way and went quietly in the remaining innings except for the fourth and seventh.
In the meantime, David Gentile kept Post 440 close with three innings of two-hit shutout relief. He gave up a leadoff double in the bottom of the sixth, but stranded the runner on third by inducing a fly out and two groundouts.
``If he threw like that his last two outings, he would have been starting tonight,'' Connerney said of Gentile. ``If he builds up his arm strength, he can throw seven innings like that and be real good.''
Though Newton had a chance in the seventh, more of the fireworks came off the field than on it. After the Newton players and fans loudly questioned a low strike call to pinch-hitter Robbie MacDonald leading off the inning, the field umpire took exception and tossed one of the Newton fans from the scene using a derogatory comment toward the spectator's size, and then ordered the collective bunch to ``go back to PC (politically correct) Newton.''
A Post 440 player was also ejected from the bench for his demonstrative disagreement of the strike call, though that player did show nice character by apologizing to the plate umpire for the outburst at the game's conclusion.
Shortly after the final out, three Chelmsford cruisers arrived at Ayotte Field after the field umpire had asked for the police to be called during the seventh-inning tirade.
Fortunately, nothing more came of the tensions that had turned almost comical by that point.
Connerney did his best to act as mediator between the umpires, his players and nearby fans during the game and couldn't help but laugh at some of the tough luck his squad faced this summer.
``My team should have been better than it was,'' he determined. ``Five one-run games we lost. The tie game (a 7-7 draw at Weston in the regular season finale), we're leading going into the bottom of the seventh.
``We had a good hitting club. We just couldn't get the wins.''
