Softball Team Rolling Along
Newtown High School’s softball team made it five straight wins with four lopsided victories this past week. The Nighthawks also made it five straight games with a double-digit scoring performance. Newtown blanked Immaculate of Danbury 12-0 on April 24, crushed Pomperaug of Southbury 10-2 the next day, beat New Fairfield 12-0 on April 29, and toppled Bunnell of Stratford 10-2 on May 1 to carry a 10-3 (8-1 in South-West Conference play) record into a May 3 clash with Masuk of Monroe.
Both the Immaculate and New Fairfield contests were mercy rule-shortened contests that ended in five innings. Jess Gibbons broke the school’s hits record in the win over New Fairfield.
In the win over Immaculate, Gibbons belted three home runs and had five runs batted in to lead an 11-hit attack. Emily Woznick added a homer, Kayla O’Grady had three hits and three RBI, Dani Shine also had three hits, and Kate Laaksonen delivered a pair of hits and drove in two runs. Freshman pitcher Lauren Wilcox earned her second win, striking out seven batters, and allowing just one hit and issuing one walk.
Against Pomperaug, Mikayla Kuligowski, O’Grady, and Courtney Escoda all had three hits, and Abi Kuligowski, Gibbons, and Laaksonen each had two knocks in Newtown’s 14-hit performance. O’Grady, Gibbons, and Abi Kuligowski each drove in two runs. Pitcher Gillian Galante earned her sixth win. She struck out eight batters, allowed three hits, and issued two walks.
Against New Fairfield, Gibbons eclipsed Kate Bowen’s career hits mark by smacking a homer for the 112th hit, added a single, and drove in three. Shine hit a monster homer, and O’Grady and Woznick each delivered two hits. Karlie Kuligowski knocked in two runs. Wilcox got the win. She allowed only one hit and one walk, and fanned eight batters.
Through the first 11 games, Shine led the team with a .500 batting average, Gibbons was hitting .474, Laaksonen was hitting .423, and O’Grady was batting .405. Galante and Wilcox have combined to allow only 53 hits their first 75 innings pitched.
“I’m happy with how they’ve been playing. Their bats have been going lately,” said Newtown Coach Tara Allegretto, adding that the fielding and pitching has also been sharp.
The schedule stands to toughen up somewhat. After visiting Masuk, the Hawks are slated to host Lauralton Hall of Milford on Monday, May 6 — both 4:15 pm contests.