By Kim J. Harmon

SOUTHBURY – When Newtown took on Pomperaug back on April 6, it was pretty much all the walks that did the Nighthawks in.

But when Newtown squared off with Pomperaug again on Monday, it was a little bit of everything – from the walks issued (four) and home runs allowed (two) to the errors committed by the defense (five) and hits collected by the offense (three).

A little bit of everything.

The ‘Hawks fell to 1-5 on the season, 0-5 in the South-West Conference, after being mercy-ruled by the Panthers, 12-2, on Monday at Community Field in Southbury. CJ Orrico cracked a leadoff home run in the bottom of the fifth to finish the game.

But despite the loss, the fourth in a row for the ‘Hawks, head coach John Larkins remains upbeat and positive.

His best performer of the day was junior catcher Matt McCarthy, the one they call the General, who went 2-for-2 with a pair of blistering doubles to left center and then, on defense, cut down two potential base stealers at second.

The only other hit for the ‘Hawks came from Gregg Burkhart, a third-inning single.

Despite creating some trouble for themselves in the first and second innings, the ‘Hawks remained in the game, down just 2-0 heading into the third. The Panthers took advantage of an error and hit batsmen in the first to score one run and then a three-base error in the second inning to score another run.

But the floodgates opened in the bottom of the third, as the Panthers collected four hits (one a two-run homer) and took advantage of two errors to score five more runs. In the bottom of the fourth, two hits and three walks led to four more runs to give Pomperaug an 11-0 lead.

The ‘Hawks forestalled the mercy rule in the top of the fifth when five walks issued by Pomperaug pitchers Chris Cassella and Mike Henriques enabled them to score two runs. Ray Reynolds earned an RBI with a towering sacrifice fly to left field and pinch-hitter John Pantan added another RBI when he was send to first on a bases-loaded walk.

But Orrico hammered a Burkart pitch over the right field fence to lead off the bottom of the fifth and halt the game.

It was a disappointing offensive effort for Newtown, which seemed to finally unleash its offense in an 18-hit attack against Masuk last Friday. Even though the ‘Hawks dropped a 15-11 decision, they showed the coaching staff quite a bit by nearly recovering from a 12-1 deficit.

Savino rapped out four hits, including a double, and drove in one run. McCarthy, Burkart, and Pete Engel drove in two runs apiece and Les Russell added a solo RBI. Russell, John Fiscella, Burkhart and Kevin Carolan all took turns on the mound.

Last week, the ‘Hawks also dropped a 9-2 decision to Bunnell. McCarthy was 2-for-3 with a run scored while Savino, Dave Roodhuyzen, Steve Moulton and Burkhart (double) all collected hits. Roodhuyzen and Russell had the RBIs.