Newtown High School’s softball team leaned heavily on its pitching a year ago. With Sara Kennedy now throwing strikes at Villanova, the Nighthawks may look more to the offense to carry them this spring.

“We’re going to focus a lot on hitting and make sure we don’t lose because of it,” Coach Joanna Closs said.

The Nighthawks lost a handful of players to graduation but are again striving to be among the best in the South-West Conference after a run to the championship game last year.

This year’s captains are outfielder Kendra Saunders and Heather Stroili, along with shortstop Jackie Moccio. Other key returnees are second baseman/outfielder Katie Goyda and third baseman Angela Carriero. Shauna Tucker emerged as the top pitcher in preseason and will be in the circle to begin the year.

Tough teams in the SWC include the usual suspects, Masuk of Monroe — which defeated the Nighthawks in last season’s championship game — along with Joel Barlow of Redding. Masuk and Barlow were the only SWC teams to defeat NHS a year ago. And, of course, there is Brookfield, which the Hawks defeated in a tight one, 3-2.

“They gave us a run for our money last year, too,” Closs points out.

Closs said the team’s goals are to “get back into the playoffs and go as far as we can.”

Newtown’s schedule again features four games against challenging opponents from the FCIAC as part of the preparation for the postseason.

The regular slate of games gets started with a nonconference visit with Darien on Monday, April 1, at 4 pm. Newtown’s home opener is two days later when St Joseph of Trumbull comes to town at 4:30 pm. The other two FCIAC teams on the slate are Norwalk and Ridgefield.

Last year, these matchups were all close, with three of the contests decided by a run and one by two runs. NHS came out on top in three of the four, falling only to St Joe’s.

The Hawks were 15-5 in the regular season and made it to the Class LL state tournament before seeing their season end at the hands of FCIAC foe Trumbull, the eventual state runner-up.