.png){kind=small}
Newts open Migley with another sweep
NEW CARLISLE - The noise returned to New Carlisle's Migleyville neighborhood on Sunday afternoon with the voice of Chicago Cubs radio announcer Pat Hughes bellowing, "New Carlisle Newts wiffleball is on the air!" to announce the opening of Migley Field for yet another season.
The Opening Day festivities saw another sweep for the New Carlisle Newts (6-0) as they defeated the Elkhart BFAM (2-4) by scores of 8-6, 7-6, and 11-9.
Game one saw another solid outing from newly acquired pitcher Aidan Cotter, who picked up his second win of the season on the mound. Cotter kept a powerful Elkhart lineup largely in check, retiring the final nine batters he faced.
New Carlisle fell behind 3-0 early, however a three-run blast by Noah Shail in the second inning quickly erased the deficit. Cotter helped himself with a line drive shot that just snuck around the left field foul pole to put the Newts up, 4-3.
Elkhart regained a 6-4 lead when Jimmy Tumpane hit a two-run homer in the third. But the Newts again answered immediately. Scott Soos led off the bottom half with a solo home run, and Garrett Curless flipped the score for the final time with a two-run shot to make it 7-6.
Soos added another solo blast for insurance in the fifth, and Cotter slammed the door shut with a perfect sixth.
The second game saw a much slower pace. After yielding two runs in the first inning, Newts pitcher Jay Ryans kept Elkhart quiet until the fifth inning when some vintage Newts defense appeared for the first time all season. New Carlisle kicked and threw the ball around the diamond, and Elkhart took advantage with a four spot on the scoreboard.
Trailing 6-1 heading into their last chance, the Newts bats woke up. Ryans and Connor VanOverberghe ignited the rally, with back-to-back doubles. After a Curless single, Garrett Ruiz announced himself to the Migley faithful with a three-run bomb to cut the deficit to one.
Matt Soos tied the game with a line drive to center field, and Ryans ended it with a moonshot as the Newts went back-to-back-to-back to walk it off, 7-6.
Going for the sweep in the third game, New Carlisle built up an early 5-1 lead behind Curless on the mound. The three-headed monster of Curless, Scott Soos, and Shail at the top of the batting order accounted for seven home runs and ten of the Newts' 12 hits.
However, led by two home runs from Brandon Terry, Elkhart was relentless. BFAM tied the game up in the fourth inning with four runs, but the Newts matched them in the bottom half. Once again, Elkhart chipped away with another three tallies in the fifth, cutting the New Carlisle lead to 9-8.
Unable to get them all back, the Newts did tack on two insurance runs which proved to be enough as Curless was able to stymie another rally in the sixth, and the Newts took the finale, 11-9.
The Newts will head to Union Mills next Sunday for a match-up with the Goon Squad (1-5). New Carlisle returns home Saturday, June 20 to meet rival Rolling Prairie (2-4) at 6:30pm town time.
