By Kim J. Harmon

Hot, hot, hot – oh, the Newtown High School softball team was off to a blistering start with a 12-0 season-opening win over Weston, a 1-0 extra-inning win over New Milford, and a 5-2 win over a strong Jonathan Law team.

But with Newtown starting pitcher Lisa Morgan on the shelf nursing an injury, a tough Lauralton Hall team (5-1 overall) was able to put a chill into that hot start with a 10-1 win at Dickinson Park on Monday afternoon.

Rebecca Narel took over on the mound and pitched well before Hall starting wearing her and the Newtown defense down in the third inning. An error leading off the top of the third provided Hall with three unearned runs.

And the ‘Hawks were left behind.

Hall scored twice in the top of the fifth and then put a five spot on the board in the top of the sixth to put the game away. The Lady Nighthawks scored their only run in the bottom of the fifth after Ashley Ferris walked and eventually scored on a single by Megan LaFlamme.

In fact, LaFlamme was 2-for-2 on the afternoon with the only two hits the ‘Hawks could collect off Laura Schack.

Hoping the loss was just a minor bump in the road, the ‘Hawks headed into a busy part of their schedule with South-West Conference games against Notre Dame (April 23), Immaculate (April 25), Bethel (April 28) and Joel Barlow (April 30),

The ‘Hawks sure started the season well with a 12-0 win over Weston back on April 14 and then followed up with a 1-0 extra-inning win over New Milford last Wednesday. The ‘Hawks collected eight hits in that game, but did not score until Nicole Mangarella’s sacrifice fly in the bottom of the 12th inning scored Brittany Hutchison with the winning run.

It was a brilliant pitcher’s duel (with amazing, almost supernatural control) between Nancy Anderson of New Milford and Lisa Morgan of Newtown. Anderson whiffed 14 batters and walked just one while Morgan fanned 11 batters and walked none.

The ‘Hawks weren’t about to get stuck in the same kind of marathon game when they traveled to Milford last week to take on Jonathan Law. A couple of runs in the top of the first and another in the top of the third (on a home run by Trina Ramsdell) propelled the locals to a 5-2 win.

Wolf (2-for-4) ripped a one-out triple in the top of the first and then scored on a two-out single by Ferris (1-for-3). Hutchison (1-for-3) followed with a double to score Ferris and moved to third on a single by Elf (2-for-3) before Law was able to get Mangarella to ground back to the pitcher.

In the top of the second, Ramsdell (2-for-4) belted a two-out, solo home run to give the ‘Hawks a 3-0 lead. But Law scored once in the bottom of the third (on a leadoff single and two-out double) and once in the bottom of the fifth (on a one-out single) to trim the Newtown lead to 3-2.

In the top of the seventh, though, the ‘Hawks put the game away on a two-run triple by Wolf. Stacey Gordon had reached on a fielder’s choice, as did Ramsdell. That set the stage for Wolf’s blast.

In the bottom of the seventh, Morgan set the side down in order to secure the win. The defense had to work a little harder for this win, too, as Morgan whiffed just four batters along the way.