By Steve Bigham

MILFORD – Despite a tough loss to Foran this week, the Nighthawks remained right in the thick of the South-West Conference race.

The Nighthawks gave up just one earned run in the bottom of the sixth inning, but it would be all that was needed as Foran’s sophomore pitcher Shea Munroe held the locals to just one hit all day. Foran, the state’s 16th ranked team, banged out five hits, including two each from Jenna Renudo and Christine Toomey.

The loss ended Newtown’s seven-game winning streak and dropped its record to 8-5 in the SWC, 10-6 overall. Nevertheless, coach Paul LaFrancesca’s hopes of a playoff berth were alive and well heading into Wednesday’s home game against Weston. A victory against the Trojans would likely earn Newtown a spot in the eight-team league tournament that begins Monday, May 22. However, NHS would probably be well served to also knock off Kolbe Cathedral at home on Thursday to ensure a berth.

Newtown closes out the regular season against Lauralton Hall, the state’s number one ranked team, on Saturday at Cheshire High. That game is being played as part of the Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) Tournament, which was postponed from last Saturday.

“We still can control our own destiny. We’ve got three league games left. If we win two, we should be set,” LaFrancesca said Tuesday.

Newtown’s fine midseason run helped improve an SWC mark from 1-4 to 8-4. Newtown won just five games all of last season.

“We knocked two other teams out of the top 25 this year. We wanted to make Foran our third victim,” LaFrancesca said. “We could have gone as the third seed in the SWCs had we won, now we’re looking at the 6th, 7th or 8th seed.”

Newtown pitcher Cathy Byrne threw another fine game, striking out eight and walking just one. However, Munroe was near flawless and after Renudo doubled home Toomey with the game’s only run, all that was left to do was register the no-hitter. But Byrne’s single in the seventh broke up the no-hit bid and left the door open for some late-inning excitement. It never happened.

“(Munroe) threw a good game, but we were way too tentative with the bat,” LaFrancesca said. “I’ve been hopping on them for the past two weeks to get aggressive. They kind of went into the game with the attitude of waiting for something to happen, but against a good pitcher, they have to make things happen themselves.”

Munroe struck out the side in the first and second innings, but only recorded two strikeouts the rest of the way.

“We have a problem with first time through batting order,” LaFrancesca said. “We’re losing three innings every game because the first time around we’re going down like flies.”

Heading into the Weston game, Byrne needed just one more strikeout to tie the single-season record, which she already holds. And she needed just 20 more to break the all-time career mark currently held by her sister Samantha.

Pinch runner Lindsey Blomberg was the only Newtown runner to reach second against Foran. She advanced there on Jessica Omasta’s sacrifice bunt in the fifth inning.

 Newtown rolled to a 12-1 win over Joel Barlow in Redding back on May 5 as Byrne struck out 14 batters and Newtown’s offense banged out eight hits. With the bases loaded in the sixth, Kristen Caposella hit a triple to deep right centerfield to drive in Heather Morgan, Lauren McCusker and Kate Bouteiller. Kristen Bandura then knocked in Caposella with a single to put the game out of reach.

Andrea Rustine’s two-run single in the first inning staked Newtown to a 2-0 lead, while Byrne upped the lead to 3-0 with a two-out double in the fourth.

In the seventh, Nicole Mangarella walked, Omasta singled moving Mangarella to third. Mangarella then scored on a wild pitch for a 9-1 lead. Omasta also moved around the bases and eventually scored on a second passed ball. Pinch hitter Ashley Christopher walked, McCusker walked and Lindsey Blomberg roped an RBI single. Byrne’s sacrifice fly drove home the final run of the game.