NHS Softball —

Hawks Avenge Defeats, Prep For Tourney

By Andy Hutchison

Newtown High School’s softball team avenged early-season defeats to Bunnell and Lauralton Hall with a pair of key nail-biting victories over their South-West Conference foes this past week. On May 7, the Nighthawks overcame an early 3-0 deficit to hand Bunnell only its second conference loss. This past Saturday, the Hawks scored two late-game runs to nip Lauralton Hall 2-1. The Nighthawks had lost 2-0 to Hall in the season opener and fell 5-1 to Bunnell in the second game of the year. Following a 7-1 win over Brookfield on Monday, the Nighthawks had won 15 of 16 games since opening week action to improve to 15-3 overall (12-0 in conference games).

The Hawks, following games with Stratford and Masuk this week, will gear up for the SWC Tournament, set to commence on Monday. Newtown stands to earn one of the tournament’s top two seeds (they own tiebreakers over Hall and Bunnell since the first meetings against those schools were designated nonconference games).

The Hawks have to like their chances given that, heading into the final week, they had beaten each of the SWC teams they have played. Last year, Masuk was the only conference nemesis to solve Newtown — besting the Hawks in the regular season and again in both the SWC Tournament and state tourney. Masuk, led by star pitcher Rachele Fico, who has tossed a handful of consecutive perfect games heading into the middle of this week, appears to be the biggest roadblock in the way of the Nighthawks winning a championship once again. Newtown was scheduled to get possible tourney championship preview with the May 15 game against Masuk (after The Bee went to press) under the lights at home.

With their close-call wins over Bunnell and Hall this past week, the Nighthawks have won playoff-like games and should carry plenty of confidence and momentum into the postseason.

“Knowing you can win those kinds of games is huge,” Coach Bob Guererra said.

The coach was not concerned when Newtown lost its first two games of the season. He knew the Hawks needed to get the repetition of at bats, fielding balls, and tossing pitches under their belts to settle in and have success. The team’s early-season trip to Disney World, in which the Hawks played six scrimmages in three days, gave the team a chance to get into a routine after soggy weather around here kept them from playing games or practicing much in the first two weeks.

The Hawks have been in a groove for more than a month, but returning the favor to Bunnell and Hall is particularly rewarding for the players.

“Nothing feels better than beating those two teams,” first baseman Kelly Tenney said. “We feel really strong. We’re on a good run.”

In the road win over Bunnell, pitcher Jenna Legros and her teammates overcame a rough first inning in which Bunnell pushed across three unearned runs. The Hawks buckled down defensively and got going at the plate with two runs in the third and single runs in each the sixth and seventh innings. In the third, Christine Beck singled and later scored on a Nora Lynn Shimko single. Shimko scored the second run on Katie Bowen’s triple to pull Newtown to within 3-2. In the sixth, Joanna Barry hit a one-out triple and scored the tying run on a Tenney single. Newtown manufactured the go-ahead run with a pair of singles, a walk, and a sacrifice in the seventh. Melissa Fracker reached on an infield single with one out. Ashley Kuligowski bunted to sacrifice Fracker into scoring position with two outs. Shimko walked and Bowen plated Newtown’s fourth and decisive run with a clutch single.

Legros got in and out of trouble in the last of the seventh. She surrendered a one-out triple before escaping with her fifth win of the year. Legros struck out six batters and scattered six hits in the win. Bowen was 3-for-4.

In the win over Hall, Legros again pitched well, and improved to 6-0 in SWC games. Similarly to the Bunnell game, in this one Hall jumped out to an early lead (it was 1-0 before the Hawks came to bat) only to see Newtown come back late in the game. Held scoreless through five innings, the Hawks scored twice in the sixth. A error and fielder’s choice put two runners aboard before Barry loaded the bases with an infield single. Tenney hit a bloop single over the drawn-in infield to tie the game and reload the bases and Legros worked a five-pitch walk to force in the second run. Once again, things got dicey in the final inning, but Legros wasn’t phased by a leadoff double and came up with a big strike out and fly ball to seal the win. Legros had seven strikeouts and lowered her season earned run average to 0.68.

On Monday, Brookfield scored an unearned run in the first inning but pitcher Stacy Broughton was solid in throwing a three-hit complete game with six strikeouts. Bowen was 3-for-3, Legros was 2-for-3 and Fracker knocked in three runs to lead the Hawks. NHS blew the game open with five runs in the fourth inning.

Newtown has had strong pitching throughout the season, with Legros, Broughton, and Bowen combining for a team ERA of 0.76 through this past weekend’s action. At the plate, Bowen is hitting .518 and has struck out just once thus far. Legros is hitting .412 and Shimko is hitting .408. Collectively, Newtown is batting .320.

“I really think we can make it to the championship of SWCs,” said Schmidt, adding that the team should be in the running to win both the SWC and state tournaments. “We definitely have the potential and ability to. We’re on a roll. Everyone is just so pumped up. We’re in a zone right now.”

“We’re rolling and we’re ready to go,” Tenney added.