Newtown High School's softball team used the long ball — a home run off the bat of Maddie Thoesen — and some small ball to defeat host Amity of Woodbridge 3-2 in eight innings of their Class LL State Tournament second-round clash on June 4.

With the game tied 2-2 in the top of the eighth inning the Nighthawks got a double from Gillian Boughan sacrifice bunt from Elena Burdo, and safety squeeze bunt from Izzy Ligouri to score Boughan with the deciding run — small ball defined.

Boughan was looked back to third base by the Amity fielder but broke for home plate on the throw to first and made it safely. The Nighthawks, behind pitcher Addy Cordova, held on to upset No. 3 seed Amity. Cordova scattered six hits and allowed just one earned run, striking out five along the way. She also came up big at the plate with a hit and run batted in.

With the win the No. 14 Nighthawks visited No. 6 Fairfield Warde in the June 6 quarterfinals with some redemption on their mind. The Hawks were beaten by Warde early in the regular season. Newtown, however, saw its solid campaign come to an end in a 4-2 defeat.

Warde led 1-0 in the fourth inning before capitalizing on a couple off errors for three unearned runs to stretch the lead to 4-0. The Hawks battled. Olivia Doersch walked and raced all the way around to score on a bunt single by Reagan Schenzer and throwing error in the fifth. Down to their final out the Hawks made things interesting. Cordova doubled home a run and Schenzer reached on a bunt to put runners at the corners and the potential tying run at first. Warde got the final out to overcome a nice pitching performance from Thoesen who allowed just five hits and struck out eight batters, walking only one.

Newtown made some noise in the late innings and worked five walks, but struck out 13 times and managed only a trio of hits.

"At the end of the day we struggled to put the ball in play," Nighthawk Coach Megan Goyda said.

Despite the disappointing finish to the campaign it was a really good one overall. Newtown went 17-8, overcoming some tough early-season nonconference matchups and other hurdles — including injuries and of course battling the wet weather — during the course of the spring.

"For the strength of schedule we had and some of the adversity we faced I can't trade anything. I'm so incredibly proud of them," Goyda said.

Seniors who will be missed are Thoesen and battery mate Sophia Caruso who, in addition to playing a key role as catcher, was a strong hitter in the lineup.

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