Patience at the plate — four walks in one inning — and a pair of bases-loaded, bases-clearing extra base hits lifted Newtown High School's softball team to a 10-0 win over visiting East Hartford in the first round of the Class LL State Tournament on June 1.

The No. 10 Nighthawks advance to visit No. 7 Norwich Free Academy in the second round on Wednesday, June 3 at 4:15 pm.

No. 23 East Hartford and the Nighthawks were scoreless until there were two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Olivia Doersh opened the home half of the frame with a double down the left field line. After an out two walks loaded the bases. A force out at home plate had the Hornets on the verge of escaping a bases-loaded jam.

B.B. Diorio and Izzy Ligouri worked back-to-back walks to force in the first two runs of the game and extend the inning. Reagan Schenzer followed with a bases-emptying triple down the left-field line to open up a 5-0 Nighthawk lead.

In the bottom of the fifth, a hit batter and Lila Accousti hit set up Gabby Ansman's sacrifice fly to deep center and Gillian Boughan grounded a single through the shortstop hole to drive in a run.

Another two-out rally produced some fireworks in the sixth. A trio of infield singles by Doersch, Accousti, and Ansman — all with two outs — set up Boughan's booming two-run double to right that, coupled with an error, brought all three runners for the final runs of the game.

All of this offense certainly was enough for pitcher Addy Cordova who allowed only two hits and struck out ten batters, including fanning the side in the fourth.