Newtown High School's softball and baseball teams, both underdogs, came up short in their bids to win South-West Conference Championships on May 28. The teams had valiant runs to the their pinnacle contests.

The No. 5 softball team was defeated 3-0 by No. 2 Brookfield at Stratford's DeLuca Field and the No. 4 baseball lineup fell 8-5 to the No. 2 New Fairfield Rebels at Bethel High's field.

In the softball matchup, the Nighthawks had a pair of base runners in the opening inning but did not covert. Brookfield cashed in on a trio of first-inning walks and fielder's choice to get on the board in the bottom half of the first.

Newtown pitcher Addy Cordova induced a 1-2-3, pitcher to catcher Reagan Schenzer to first baseman Gabby Ansman, double play to escape further trouble. It remained 1-0 Bobcats until the late innings.

The Nighthawks got the tying run to the plate in the seventh behind a Cordova hit and Olivia Doersch hit by pitch before Brookfield escaped.

On the baseball diamond it was a back-and-forth battle. Luke Libero had a two-out RBI single to plate Ryan Schmidt, who was hit by a pitch leading off the second inning. NHS left the bases loaded going to the bottom half of the frame. Bethel seized a 3-1 lead in the same inning.

NHS pulled to within a run on a Kieran Garrity two-out single in the fourth after Travis Rekos and Libero reached on errors. Newtown tied the game at 3-3 in the fifth. Jack Carta led off with a walk, (Oscar Nordt pinch ran), Schmidt sacrifice bunted to advance Nordt to second, Chris Moseman singled, Peter Eppers walked to load the bases, and JT Wash was hit by a pitch to force in a run. Rekos reached on a fielder's choice, knocking in the go-ahead run for a 4-3 Hawk lead. Newtown again strained three runners.

After New Fairfield tied the game, Carta homered in the sixth for a 5-4 Nighthawk advantage. The Rebels, however, plated four in the bottom half of the sixth.

Newtown starting pitcher Jamie Piccuillo allowed three earned runs; five of New Fairfield's runs were unearned as a result of four NHS errors. Garrity relieved with Hawks down 6-5 and two inherited runners scored. The Nighthawks had four earned runs; New Fairfield committed a pair of errors. NHS outhit New Fairfield 9-8.

The softball and baseball teams will try to rebound in the upcoming state playoffs. The baseball team, which went 11-9 this spring, is ranked 17th in Class LL and the softball team (14-6) is ranked ninth in LL.