A three-way tie for first place between the Newtown, Masuk of Monroe, and Brookfield high school softball teams left fate to decide the seeding for the upcoming South-West Conference Tournament.

During the regular slate, Newtown handed Brookfield its only conference loss, Brookfield gave Masuk its lone SWC defeat, and Masuk dealt Newtown its one and only in-conference setback creating this logjam atop the conference. A draw to decide seedings took place and Brookfield took the top spot, Masuk No. 2 and NHS No. 3. The Hawks will host No. 6 Bunnell of Stratford in the quarterfinals at Treadwell Park (with lights if needed) Saturday, May 24 at 6:30 pm, since the Memorial Day Weekend Soccer Tournament will take place at fields throughout town during the day hours.

The Nighthawks finished off the regular season with an overall successful stretch of games, following up a 2-1 win over Brookfield and 4-0 victory over Notre Dame Prep of Fairfield with a 13-1 win over Stratford on May 14, and 4-0 victory over Bunnell of Stratford on Senior Night, May 15. Newtown shook off a 7-1 loss at Masuk of Monroe in a rescheduled game on May 18 with victories over host Weston (14-1) on May 19 and visiting Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport on May 20.

Despite all of these wins the loss is what somewhat stands out for the Nighthawks. After all, Masuk is an arch rival — the team that beat Newtown in last year’s SWC Championship. Not to mention, this game was the tale of two games of sorts. The teams first met May 8 and were scoreless in the fifth inning when lightning halted play. Since the game was not official it had to be started from scratch. With the slate wiped clean the teams picked up where they left off with Newtown pitcher Addy Cordova and Masuk counterpart Julia Bacoulis combining to hang zeros on the scoreboard through the first three frames of the re-do.

Bacoulis helped her own cause with a home run in the fourth to get the scoring started. A combination of Masuk hits and Newtown errors added up to five unearned runs as the Panthers pulled away. Newtown’s lone run was unearned as a result of a Masuk error. Bacoulis threw a no-hitter with 15 strikeouts.

“It’s not the showing we wanted. If we came out and played Newtown softball I would be okay with the loss. We didn’t execute offensively or defensively today — it’s deflating,” Newtown Coach Megan Goyda said.

Newtown would have liked to win and capture the top seed on Masuk’s playing field.

“I think there’s always a special air to the game because of the rivalry,” Goyda said.

Facing Masuk — win or lose — is never a bad thing for a team gearing up for the postseason.

“It checks us one more time before the playoffs,” noted Goyda, adding that the Nighthawks got a reminder about the importance of playing a clean game, especially as the competition stands to get better the deeper they go in postseason tournaments.

In the win over Stratford, the Nighthawks had five hits, nine walks, and capitalized on a trio of opposing team errors. Maddie Thoesen homered and drove in three runs; Cordova, Izzy Liguori, and Gabby Ansman doubled. Cordova pitched four innings, allowing one earned run on one hit, and struck out six, and Thoesen tossed two innings of one-hit ball with four strikeouts.

For Senior Night, the Nighthawks honored Sophia Caruso and Thoesen, the latter of whom struck out 15 Bunnell batters, allowing only four hits along the way. The offense was better than the score or hit total (seven) indicate.

“We made really good contact on the ball,” said Goyda, who pointed out that some of the team’s long fly balls that could have gone for extra-base hits or homers, were caught for outs due to the spacious confines of Treadwell Park.

The Hawk bats still made some noise with Elena Burdo and Thoesen both smacking triples and Gillian Boughan hitting a double. Cordova, Caruso, Ansman, and Olivia Doersch all drove in runs.

In the Weston game four pitchers — Thoesen, Cordova, Rheya Litke, and Mia Napolitano combined for a one-hitter with nine strikeouts. Thoesen tripled among three hits, and drove in a trio of runs; Ansman doubled twice among three hits, and drove in four runs; and Burdo and Lucy Diorio doubled. Boughan had two hits and an RBI and Olivia Doersch had two hits and a pair of runs batted in.

The regular season concluded with a 19-0 win over visiting Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport on May 20. Thoesen, Cordova, and Rheya Litke each pitched an inning and Mia Napolitano tossed two frames as the quartet combined on a no-hitter. The pitchers combined for 12 strikeouts and three walks. Thoesen, Ansman, and Doersch all tripled; Ansman doubled twice, and Boughan, Caruso, and Schenzer all doubled. Ansman drove in five runs and Thoesen batted in three to lead the offense.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.