"Baseball is a game out of time," baseball scribe Joe Posnanski wrote in Sports Illustrated magazine in 2011. "This is the sport's defining quality, its badge of honor. The people who love baseball -- the poets, the stat geeks, the bleacher bums, the second-guessers, the former pitchers, the collectors -- we love baseball for its timelessness. It is a game without a clock. 'Keep the rally alive,' the marvelous Roger Angell wrote, 'and you have defeated time.'"

Few teams embodied this notion as well as the 2013 Newton SouthEast Little League all-star team. SouthEast habitually played from behind throughout the international tournament, and regularly skirted with an end to their tournament run. But they kept the rally going -- largely in the late innings, when they were at their deadliest -- and in the process, Newton SouthEast defeated not only time, but also a string of tournament opponents.

Early in tournament play, in the District 10 tournament, Newton forced the tournament to an 'if' game by rallying from a four-run, fifth inning deficit in a championship series meeting with Wellesley North Little League. In the Section 3 finale against Walpole North Little League, Newton overcame a 6-1 fifth inning deficit and rallied for a 7-6 victory in extra innings. In all, Newton came from behind in nine of its fifteen victories against Massachusetts teams during the 2013 international tournament.

So it was little surprise when Newton struck for three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning of the state championship game at Parkway Little League's Guy Cammarata Complex in West Roxbury. The runs were enough to reverse a 4-2 deficit, and upend Hanover Little League, 5-4. With the win, Newton earned its first-ever state championship in the major baseball division, and advanced to the New England Region tournament in Bristol, Connecticut.

Newton fell behind early in the championship game, when a three-run home run on the first pitch following a lightning delay propelled Hanover to a 4-0 lead. But SouthEast chipped away at the lead, scoring single runs in the second and third innings, then made a final push in the sixth. Zeke O'Connell led off with a base hit up the middle, then Ben Genser poked a single into right field. Matthew Beckles walked to load the bases, and Brett Goldstein was hit by a pitch that forced in a run to pull SouthEast within one. Joseph Wang fouled off a two-strike pitch, then was hit by the next pitch to force in the tying run. Finally, after a pitching change, ninth-place hitter Ben Zagorianakos drove a grounder just inside the third base foul line to score Beckles with the winning run.

"We'd been talking lately about him having more confidence in his at-bats," said Newton SouthEast manager John Tate of Zagorianakos. "He's a good hitter, and I told him before that at-bat that we talked earlier about how I was confident in him and his hitting, and that now's the time."

Newton's game-ending push came one inning after the District 10 champions failed to capitalize on a potential rally, and stranded a pair of runners on base. But the game was again delayed by lightning after the inning ended, giving Newton an opportunity to regroup.

"When we got the lightning, and the break, I knew at that moment this was going to work out," said Taft after the game. "Our kids were a little upset coming out of the fifth. So the rain delay got us to get them back inside, got them relaxed, and got them to focus on what they needed to do."

O'Connell, who moved to the mound in relief with no outs in the second inning and Newton trailing 4-0, kept his team within striking distance by posting five shutout innings. He escaped a bases loaded, one-out threat in the fourth by registering a pair of strikeouts.

Newton's first run came on a Beckles home run in the bottom of the second, and they added another in the third when Dante Taylor reached on an infield single, moved to second on a wild pitch, and scored on Brandon Lee's RBI single.

Newton swept to victory in each of their three round robin games at the state tournament, but their place in the championship round was not assured until they sealed the last of those victories. SouthEast opened with an 11-8 win over Holden Little League, edged Hanover, 3-2, and then held off a late push by Peabody Western Little League in a 5-3 victory.

Holden jumped to an early 6-2 through four innings lead in their opening round encounter, but Southeast scored three runs in the fifth and added six more in the sixth to reel in the deficit. Taylor (two-run homer) and O'Connell (solo shot) provided the offense in the fifth, and then Newton collected six hits in the decisive sixth inning rally.

The next day, Taft employed five different pitchers -- none for more than 35 pitches -- as his team edged Hanover. Newton capitalized on wildness on the part of Hanover’s pitcher, grabbing a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning before holding on for the win. Taylor sparked the rally with a one-out single, then Lee walked and O'Connell singled to load the bases. Each of those baserunners scored without a ball being put into play, as Beckles and Goldstein drew walks, and then O'Connell scored on a wild pitch.

Hanover scored once in the second inning, and added another on a fielders' choice that recorded the second out in the sixth inning. Beckles then induced a soft liner to third to secure the victory.

Despite the two wins, Newton SouthEast was in a must-win situation in their final round robin encounter, as Hanover rebounded from the loss to dispatch Holden, 10-0 in the first game on the third round schedule. Hanover had a superior runs-allowed ratio compared to Newton and Peabody, which meant that, should a Peabody victory pull the three teams into a tie at the top of the standings, Hanover would be the top seed and Peabody's head-to-head victory would give them the second seed. But Newton pitcher Jackson Danforth stymied a potent Peabody offense and led his team to a 5-3 victory. Peabody had collected 25 hits the prior day in a win over Holden, but managed just two hits through the first four innings against Danforth as Newton methodically built a 5-0 lead.

"The Newton pitcher had a good fastball, and did a great job keeping us off-balance with his off-speed stuff," said Peabody manager Frank Benea. "At this level, you see a lot of curveballs and everything else, and you have to be prepared. It is also harder when you're behind and start pressing."

Peabody fell behind when Newton scratched for a run in the top of the first inning. After the game's first two batters were retired, Lee was hit by a pitch, O'Connell singled, and Genser delivered a run-producing single. In the third, Taylor drew a walk, and Lee followed with a two-run homer to straightaway center field.

Peabody got one run back in the fifth on Josh Cerratani's RBI single, but Newton stretched their advantage in the sixth by capitalizing on a pair of errors to score two runs.

In the bottom of the sixth, Peabody produced four singles and a pair of runs, but Lee was able to close out the victory. Caroline Kukas drove in one run with a fielders' choice, and Dan Marshall plated the second by rifling a run-scoring single to right field.

"We hit the ball hard a couple times right at people," said Peabody coach Ed Aiello. "Their going up two more runs in the top of the sixth was the real difference, but we still had a shot. Our kids tried their tails off."

As did SouthEast, which became the first state titlist from Newton since Newton North Little League claimed the Commonwealth's top honors in 1998.

Baseball is a game out of time. Newton SouthEast's never-say-die approach defeated continually defeated time, and lifted the team into the New England Region tournament.