State Tournament Update—

Newtown High Baseball, Tennis Teams Win Openers

State tournament action got going on Tuesday and Newtown High School’s baseball and girls’ tennis teams both blanked the opposition to kick things off, while the softball squad saw its season end.

In the Class LL bracket, the 13th-seeded baseball team, behind the pitching of Kyle Wilcox, shut out No. 20 Naugatuck 3-0 at home. Wilcox struck out 16 batters and allowed only one hit in his complete-game effort. Wilcox walked six batters and hit one. He contributed at the plate with a 1-for-3 effort, Evan Noonan had an RBI single and scored a run, Justin DeVellis was 2-for-2 (both singles) and walked, Casey Tenney had a single and scored a run, and Steven Conway stole a base and scored a run to help the Nighthawks advance into the second round. Newtown was scheduled to visit No. 4 Shelton on Wednesday (after The Bee sports section went to press).

On the tennis courts, the NHS girls, seeded fourth in the Class L tourney, took down No. 13 Southington 7-0 at home in the first round. The win set up a Wednesday quarterfinal-round date with No. 5 Fairfield Ludlowe, which had beaten Newtown during the regular campaign. The boys’ tennis tourney draws were scheduled to be posted on Wednesday.

Newtown’s softball team, the No. 27 seed in the Class LL tourney, fell 8-1 to Amity of Woodbridge in the first round. The Hawks took a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning as Emily Woznick and Dani Shine singled to put runners on the corners and set the table for Nora Murphy’s sacrifice fly. That was all the Hawks could muster, however, and Amity — behind five bunt singles — went on to earn the win. NHS finished the year with a record of 10-12 and posted a 9-6 mark in the South-West Conference.

On the lacrosse fields, the NHS boys were slated to try to rebound from their SWC tourney semifinal round exit with a first-round state tourney home game on Wednesday. The Nighthawks, seeded second in the Class L bracket, were to face No. 15 Norwalk in the first round. With a win, the Hawks would host a quarterfinal-round game on Saturday, June 2, at 3 pm. Newtown’s girls’ lacrosse team, also the No. 2 seed in Class L, was scheduled to begin play — fresh off its eighth straight conference title — on Thursday against No. 15 Trumbull. With a win, NHS would host a quarterfinal-round game on Monday, June 4 at 5 pm.

The girls’ and boys’ track and field state championships were slated for Wednesday at Manchester High School. The golf state tournament is scheduled for June 4. Check www.casciac.org for complete tournament information.