Battling a tough FCIAC opponent, mid-30s temperatures, and a fierce wind that made it feel as if it were 20-something degrees, the Newtown High School softball team left the field feeling warm and fuzzy with a come-from-behind 5-4 walk-off win over the visiting Trumbull Eagles on April 8.

Pitcher Maddie Thoesen doubled to deep centerfield leading off the bottom of the final frame and came all the way around to score from second to tie the game on a perfectly-placed Sophia Caruso bunt past the pitcher’s circle. Olivia Dennen entered as a courtesy runner for Caruso and, after Reagan Schenzer walked and Gabby Ansman hit a hard groundout to first to move both runners into scoring position, Dennen came home with the winning run on a wild pitch.

“It’s certainly nice to get a win — especially to start the season,” said Newtown Coach Megan Goyda, whose team had games rained out on April 5 and again April 7 before defeating a Trumbull team ranked among the top ten in the state. “It sets a good tone.”

Including makeup contests with other FCIAC teams Fairfield Warde and St Joseph of Trumbull, plus a matchup with a Cheshire squad that knocked NHS out of the state quarterfinals last June, the Hawks challenge a tough group of opponents out of the gate.

Last season started similarly with some closely-contested games and matchups with some of these same lineups. Last spring, Newtown walked off against St Joes, defeated Warde by breaking a tie in the final inning, and fell 1-0 to Trumbull in the opening week.

“We definitely needed this one after losing to them last year,” said Caruso, whose bunting prowess is of great familiarity to Goyda.

“She loves being in an opportunity where she can bunt. She’s good at it,” the coach said.

“We saw a bunch of stuff from everybody,” Goyda said. “Everybody contributed in some way.”

Schenzer is a freshman outfielder who slotted into the starting lineup batting fifth and had the patience of a veteran at the plate, collecting her first hit, reaching on a hit by pitch, and walking twice

“She has such a calm approach,” Thoesen said.

Newtown fell behind 2-0 early and got on the board in the bottom of the third when No. 9 hitter Oliva Doersch laced a triple to right and scored when leadoff batter Addy Cordova belted an RBI double to left.

The Eagles escaped further damage and got their two-run lead back in a messy top of the fourth. A bloop hit, sacrifice bunt and subsequent pair of throwing errors on the play pushed across Trumbull’s third run and set the Eagles up with a runner at third. A pitch got away from catcher Caruso who alertly grabbed the ball and beat the Trumbull runner to home plate for a tag play to keep the score 3-1. Thoesen, in the circle, then surrendered a base hit which made that play at home on Trumbull’s aggressive base runner all the more important, but escaped the rest of the frame.

In the bottom of the fourth Schenzer singled up the middle and stole second, but Ansman and Gillian Boughan both narrowly missed RBI doubles down the right field line and it appeared the Eagles were going to escape. A pair of wild pitches enabled Schenzer to score and Boughan eventually reached on a hit by pitch. Doersch laced an opposite-field single to right scoring the tying run.

Trumbull reclaimed the lead in the top of the fifth, capitalizing on an error and two-out RBI single. The Eagles maintained that 4-3 edge with both teams threatening but coming up empty over the ensuing frames — until Newtown’s final-inning heroics.

“We have such a strong offense,” said Thoesen, who contributed to the strong collective showing at the plate and served up eight strikeouts on this frigid day.

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