By Kim J. Harmon

Battling, always battling.

Sure, the Nighthawks might have tripped themselves up in their quest for South-West Conference and CIAC Class L state tournament berths with a three-game losing streak heading into a Wednesday contest at Joel Barlow (after press time), but they distinguished themselves by battling to the very end of each game.

With their record at 5-7 a week ago, the surprising ‘Hawks – coming off a 1-19 season a year ago – dropped an 11-7, 11-inning decision to Notre Dame last Wednesday and then dropped an 8-7, eight-inning decision to St. Joseph’s of Trumbull on Saturday before falling, 2-1, to Bethel on Tuesday.

Battling.

The ‘Hawks had to come back from a 7-1 deficit against Notre Dame, had to come back from a 4-1 deficit against St. Joseph’s, and had to endure about an hour rain delay against Bethel while sitting on a 1-0 deficit.

Now that’s a tough three-game losing streak.

Jon Jacobs helped put the Wildcats ahead, 1-0, on Tuesday with a single to lead off the top of the third. Storm clouds were building at that point, but did not arrive until after a two-out error on Ryan DeRubertis’ pop fly scored Jacobs with the go-ahead run.

In the bottom of the third, with lightning on the horizon, the game was halted. A torrential downpour soon followed, delaying the restart of the game for about an hour.

When the game got started again, the ‘Hawks were stymied in the bottom of the third with a pair of strikeouts and a groundout back to the pitcher. In the top of the fourth, Greg Stepankin smashed Kevin Carolan’s 2-1 pitch for a home run that put the Wildcats ahead 2-0.

Facing another deficit, Carolan did what he could to get the runs back. He earned a walk to lead off the bottom of the fourth and moved up to second on Gregg Burkhart’s single and a muff at second on a Matt McCarthy grounder. Steve Bertè then lofted a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Carolan for Newtown’s only run.

DeRubertis shut down Newtown in the bottom of the seventh by whiffing Collin Anderson and John Pantan.

The ‘Hawks collected just five hits on the game, but the Wildcats had only seven of their own. Carolan (1-2) pitched a good game, scattering those seven hits, walking two batters, and striking out five along the way.

It was a much better offensive game for the ‘Hawks on Saturday, in the 8-7 loss to St. Joseph’s.

Newtown banged out 14 hits – 13 singles and one double by McCarthy. It was a first-inning single by McCarthy (his 13th RBI of the season) that plated Carolan and put Newtown ahead 1-0, a lead the ‘Hawks held on to until the bottom of the third.

St. Joseph’s scored twice in the third and once more in the fourth and sixth innings to take a 4-1 lead and put Newtown’s back to the wall heading into the seventh. But with Ron Isler leading off the frame with a single and Pete Engel and Carolan following with singles, the ‘Hawks were on their way to a five-run inning to take a 6-4 lead. Engel and McCarthy (his 14th RBI) both drove in runs, but it was Les Russell’s three-run single (giving him 10 RBI for the year) that propelled Newtown into the lead.

St. Joe’s tied the score in the bottom of the seventh, though, on a walk, an error, and two singles.

In the top of the ninth, Nick Savino lofted a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored Burkhart, giving Newtown a 7-6 lead, but St. Joseph’s tied the game again in the bottom of the frame on an RBI single.

In the bottom of the 10th, Matt Ralabata won the game for St. Joseph’s with an RBI single.