Newtown High School's softball team found a way to win its first three games of the season - each a low-scoring close battle - led by the efforts of pitcher Sara Kennedy. Coach Bob Guererra wanted to see the bats heat up as the Nighthawks try to make a run at their third consecutive South-West Conference championship, but when Kennedy couldn't continue pitching through an injury, the Nighthawks have found themselves in the midst of an unfamiliar losing streak this past week. They went on the road and ended a five-game skid with a 14-0 victory over struggling Immaculate of Danbury on April 24.

"Every team, every season, no matter what, faces adversity, injuries, slumps. It's the game - it's the nature of the game," Guererra said after the Nighthawks saw Notre Dame-Fairfield overcome a 6-0 deficit to defeat the Nighthawks 11-7 on April 19. "The worst thing we can do is let it affect us mentally."

The current Nighthawks, coming in, didn't know much about adversity in terms of winning and losing at the high school level given the Hawks had lost no more than two games in a row in each of the last three campaigns. Some of the players, however, have overcome injury (Shannon Cheh and Megan Goyda are back and helping the team's offense), and Guererra and company look forward to their pitcher's return sometime during the regular season.

Kaysie Fisher, in her first varsity playing time, has stepped in admirably and gave the Nighthawks four shutout innings in a game against visiting Notre Dame in the rain. With the Nighthawks leading 6-0 in the fifth inning, the Notre Dame hitters turned it on and some misplayed balls in the field helped the Lancers pile up 11 unanswered runs over two innings.

The Nighthawks scored four runs in the third inning as Mackenzie Macchiarulo tripled, and Megan Goyda, Shannon Cheh, and Fisher all smacked doubles, and Tess Mubarek contributed an RBI groundout. Newtown added two runs in the fourth as Jackie Moccio and Macchiarulo singled and Goyda delivered another double.

Newtown went to New Milford on April 22, a day after the contest was initially postponed by rain, and suffered a 10-6 loss. Newtown took a 2-0 lead before the Green Wave answered with five runs in the bottom of the first inning and never looked back.

Kamdynn Moroney went 3-for-3 with a home run, triple, run batted in, and two runs scored; Macchiarulo went 2-for-4 with a homer, RBI, and two runs scored; Cheh had two hits and an RBI.

The Nighthawks improved to 4-5 overall with the win over Immaculate. Fisher was stellar in the circle, tossing a two-hitter with no walks and eight strikeouts in this abbreviated, mercy-rule triumph; the game was called after five innings of play. Fisher was presented with the game ball after the win, which put Newtown halfway home for a state playoff berth.

Newtown scored in every inning against Immaculate, and seven players recorded multi-hit afternoons as the Hawks compiled 16 base hits in all. Moroney had another perfect day at the plate, going 4-for-4 with a double, triple, three RBI, and two runs scored to lead the offense. Macchiarulo went 2-for-3 with three runs scored; Goyda was 2-for-4 with a double, triple, two RBI, and two runs scored; Fisher helped her own cause with two hits, including a double, an RBI, and two runs scored; Tess Mubarek went 2-for-2 with a triple and two runs scored; Emily Bell was 2-for-2, including a double, three RBI, and two runs scored; and Erin Burns went 2-for-3 with two runs driven in and a run scored.

The Nighthawks struggled offensively early on, mustering nine runs in their first four games. The offense has come around, and the Nighthawks, 1-2 in South-West Conference play, hope to be in the mix for both the conference and state playoffs come regular season's end.

"This is what I tell the kids: 'You have to grind, you have to grind every at bat, you have to grind every defensive play - you just have to grind,'" Guererra said. "We just have to keep working hard."