Newtown High School’s softball team defeated two Panther squads in as many days in their first games after a week-long trip to Florida, during which the Nighthawks played six games at the ESPN Wide World of Sports Complex in Orlando, and enjoyed Walt Disney World.

The Nighthawks withstood a big comeback effort by visiting Masuk of Monroe to hold off the Panthers from the south for an 8-7 win on April 16. The Hawks then came back to edge visiting Pomperaug of Southbury with two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to prevail 5-4 over the Panthers from the north, the next afternoon.

“It’s exciting – it’s character-building to keep coming back when the game’s see-saw like that,” said Newtown Coach Bob Guerarra, whose squad trailed 1-0, led 3-1, then fell behind 4-3 before plating a pair in its final at bat to edge the Pomperaug Panthers.

Mikayla Kuligowski laced a leadoff single off of the glove of Pomperaug’s first baseman, and stole second base to set the stage for the game-winning rally. Haley Ryan was called out on a close play at first, despite the fact fans and Newtown’s coaching staff believed she had beaten the throw for an infield single; but Ryan advanced Kuligowski to third base, giving Newtown a chance to tie the score on an out. Katie Laaksonen had other plans, and she belted a booming RBI double to center field to knot the game at four apiece. After a wild pitch moved the runner to third, the Panthers pulled the infield in with hopes of cutting down the decisive run at home plate. Emily Woznick hit a grounder that didn’t get through, but Laaksonen scored the winning run on a close play at the plate when the Pomperaug catcher couldn’t hang onto the ball.

In Newtown’s three-run fourth inning, Ryan and Sara Kennedy walked, Goyda singled home a run, and Jill Lasorsa smacked a two-run double. Newtown pitcher Lauren Wilcox struck out seven batters in the victory.

In their win the day before, the Nighthawks struck for six runs in the second inning to break open a 1-1 game, saw the Masuk Panthers scratch and claw to within 7-5, then scored what turned out to be a crucial insurance run in the bottom of the sixth before hanging on.

Woznick belted a two-run homerun, Laaksonen had a triple, two runs batted in and a run scored; Kuligowski hit an RBI triple, singled, and scored two runs; Ryan delivered three singles, scored a run, knocked in a run, and stole a base; Kamdyn Maroney tripled, drove in a run, and scored a run; and Lasorsa and Mackenzie Macchiarulo each had a single and run scored.

Masuk chipped away to make things interesting behind some strong hitting and five fielding errors by the Nighthawks.

Newtown starting pitcher Gillian Galante mostly worked around a leadoff error and consecutive bunt singles by the Panthers, creating a bases-loaded, no outs jam, allowing only one run on a sacrifice fly in the top of the third inning.

The Panthers scored twice in the fourth despite Newtown catcher Woznick tagging out a base runner trying to score during the frame. Masuk pulled to within 7-5 with a run on a triple and NHS error in the fifth.

In the last of the sixth inning, Ryan beat out an infield single with two outs, to drive in what turned out to be the game-winning run. Macchiarulo had singled to begin the inning before eventually moving around to third base.

Masuk’s Alexa Bacoulis smashed a two-run homer with no outs. After Galante retired the next two hitters, two straight Masuk players worked walks. Guererra turned to Kennedy to come in in relief and record the final out.

“Some games are ugly; some games are beautiful — this was a bit on the ugly side,” Guererra said. “A win’s a win.”

The coach found encouraging signs in this one, despite the fact his squad allowed Masuk to make it close. “If we continue to score runs like this, and get good pitching, this will be a good year,” he said.

Guererra said the team’s trip to Florida, most of which was during spring break, allowed the players — following a season-opening loss to Trumbull — to get into a rhythm of playing before the season gets into full swing.

“We got some repetitions. If we were up here we wouldn’t have gotten anything,” said the coach, alluding to rainy weather and soggy field conditions in town.

The Masuk game was the first of three in as many days and six games scheduled in the span of just over a week for Newtown. The Hawks, following an April 18 home game against Brookfield (3 pm), and a visit to Immaculate of Danbury on April 20 (at 3:45 pm), host Joel Barlow of Redding on April 22 (at 4:15 pm), and visit Brookfield on April 23 (also at 4:15 pm).

Read more about the Nighthawks in the April 24 print edition of The Bee.