FREDERICKSBURG, VA — Shea Newhall of the 2022 Greater Lynn Babe Ruth 15s is lighting up the stat sheet through three Babe Ruth World Series games.
Throughout the first three games, Newhall is batting an incredible .556 (5-9) with three runs, an RBI, and a walk on baseball’s biggest stage.
“He just gets on base — he gets contact and gets on base, and he has been coming up with the big hits for us,” said Lynn Manager Leon Elwell.
The outstanding play of Newhall is nothing new this summer, as he has come up huge in countless big games during Lynn’s World Series journey. During the state championship game against Parkway (West Roxbury), he gave Lynn its first run and some breathing room with an RBI single.
Then as the moment grew, so did Newhall’s bat as he brought it with him to regionals in Keene, N.H., where he hammered in some more runs over the course of the tournament.
“Since the state final, it just seems like he has come up with every big hit, he brought it to the regionals with him, and he has obviously carried it over to the World Series — he has to be hitting over .500,” said Elwell.
For Newhall, the key to his play has been a good approach at the plate, and he attributes the success he has seen to “Just seeing the ball well out of the pitcher’s hand and timing the ball really well,” said Newhall.
“You know what it is with Shea — he is just a really quiet, unassuming kid, and I get it that he knows he is in the World Series, but I do not think he really cares. He just does what he does,” said Elwell.
Newhall said he tries to do what many big-time performers do in pressurized spots — block out the noise.
“I just block out all the nerves and just think about hitting the ball and just remembering what I do and what they want me to do — to go up there just hit the ball and get on base,” said Newhall.
“I just go back to when we were playing in our first game against Peabody and just remember how I hit the ball then and then just try to do the same thing now and just act like it is the same game,” he said.
While Newhall has done damage at the plate, he has also shined, particularly with his attention to detail. He has had some tremendous heads-up plays, notably advancing to third on a dropped third strike to set up the first run of Lynn’s game against Stafford, Virginia, on Sunday.
“I really just think about the play — every scenario before it is going to happen, and I just figure out what I am going to do before the play even happens,” said Newhall.
As the World Series continues, Newhall said the experience has been fun, “It is just a lot of fun coming out here with the boys and getting to stay in a hotel with them is a lot of fun — and getting to play with them every day.”
As Lynn moves into a huge matchup Wednesday for the number one seed of the American Division against Torrance, California, Newhall will try to keep doing what he is doing to help his team.
“I just need to go there and do what I keep doing at the plate, just putting the ball in play, seeing where it drops and get on base and knock people in,” said Newhall.
