Another Perfect Week For The Nighthawks—

Bowen Tosses Gem And Kennedy Becomes One-Hit(ter) Wonder

By Andy Hutchison

It was another perfect week for Newtown High School’s softball team. For the second straight week, a Newtown pitcher threw a perfect game as Kate Bowen tossed five flawless innings in a 15-0 run-rule triumph over Joel Barlow of Redding on May 5.

What’s more, the team just keeps in winning and remains unbeaten. Freshman Maggie Kennedy, after surrendering a leadoff hit in her first varsity start, was perfect the rest of the way in a one-hit win over Kolbe Cathedral of Bridgeport on May 7.

The Nighthawks carried a 15-0 (10-0 in South-West Conference play) record into the middle of this week’s action.

With a possible unbeaten season on the radar, there doesn’t seem to be any pressure on these Nighthawks. The Nighthawks, who had won handily almost every time out, have some potentially tough tests on tap. Following Wednesday’s scheduled game with New Fairfield after The Bee sports section went to press), Newtown will still have games against Masuk (two meetings) and Lauralton Hall of Milford. Coach Bob Guererra welcomes a nail-biter or two.

“Truthfully, that’s when the games become fun — when there’s a little pressure on you to perform; you have goals that are now, perhaps, becoming clear in front of you; and now you’ve got to pick it up, you’ve got to take it on the field. It’s got to be personal between the lines — that’s when the game is really fun,” Guererra said. “It tests your mettle, it tests your confidence, it tests your concentration. That’s when the game’s really fun.”

In the triumph over Barlow, Bowen struck out eight batters. Softball rules are such that if a team leads by 12 or more runs after its opponent has had its fifth-inning at bat the game is ended. Newtown jumped on Barlow with 11 hits en route to the abbreviated win.

“It felt good,” Bowen said of the stellar performance. “But I definitely couldn’t have done it without my teammates. The defense was excellent.”

So, too, was the offense. Monica Macchiarulo was 2-for-3 with a double and triple, Ashley Kuligowski was 2-for-3 and had a double, and Bowen and Megan Gibbons both hit home runs. Bowen knocked in two and Gibbons had two hits in the win.

Kennedy fanned eight batters in her five-inning performance and had all kinds of offensive support as Newtown erupted for a 30-1 shellacking of Kolbe.

Nora Murphy and Maddie Hauck each slugged four hits; Jessica Gibbons had three hits, including a double and triple; Ali Kennedy tripled; Maggie Kennedy had three hits and scored three runs; and Nicki Elias added two hits and drove in four runs.

On May 8, Bowen tossed her sixth shutout of the spring in a 10-0 win at Oxford. Bowen allowed only four hits and struck out seven. Macchiarulo led off the game with a home run as part of her 2-for-3 performance at the dish. This game, which had been postponed by rain earlier in the week, was delayed by more rain after the top half of the first inning. A 40-or-so-minute delay did not slow down the Nighthawks.

Kuligowski was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles, Bowen knocked in three runs, Megan Gibbons tripled, and Colleen Cunningham provided some long ball power with a homer.

Another day, another easy win … Newtown thumped Pomperaug of Southbury 8-1 on Monday. Bowen struck out ten batters and surrendered just three hits. At the plate, Bowen contributed a two-run triple to break a scoreless tie and jumpstart the offense in the third inning. Megan Gibbons added a sacrifice fly for a 3-0 lead.

Newtown tacked on five more runs in the fifth to put the game out of reach. The big hit was Jessica Gibbons’s bases-loaded, bases-clearing triple. Rachael Ruiz added a run-scoring double, and Natalie Dunn singled home another run.

Newtown had another 8-1 win in a makeup game with Cromwell on Tuesday. Emma Herring allowed two hits and struck out three batters. Ruiz was 2-for-4, Bowen was 3-for-4 with an RBI, and Megan Gibbons was 3-for-4 and drove in a pair of runs.

Macchiarulo, Kuligowski, Bowen, Ruiz, and Cunningham are all batting close to or above .400, and Gibbons and Ally Modzelewski are up in the mid-.300s. Things have gone well for Newtown but the Nighthawks are not taking anything for granted.

“You know good pitching’s going to get good hitting out,” said Guererra, whose normally explosive-at-the-plate team narrowly beat Holy Cross of Waterbury, 1-0 in 10 innings earlier this year. Of course, with Bowen on the hill against the best of the opponents, oppositions don’t stand much of a chance of scoring. Bowen, heading into this week’s action, had allowed only three earned runs in 71 innings. “So we’re going to be in every game,” Guererra said.

“It’s definitely good to take it game by game because a team can always surprise you,” said Ruiz, adding that this team does have a special feeling surrounding it.