An opportunity to lock up one of the South-West Conference’s top four seeds and a first-round tournament home game hinged on Newtown High School’s baseball team ending rival Masuk’s ten-game winning streak. The Nighthawks, in their May 18 visit to Monroe, certainly gave the Panthers a fight — taking them into extra innings before falling 2-1.

With the loss, the Nighthawks fell to 13-6 overall (9-4 in the SWC) and will have to start the conference tourney on the road; Masuk (14-5, 12-1) earned the top seed. The Hawks will visit Bunnell on Saturday, May 23, beginning at 2 pm. They defeated Bunnell 4-2 during the regular season and both teams went 9-4 in SWC play but four teams finished with 9-4 conference marks and, because of tie-breakers, the Hawks settled in as the No. 6 seed, and Bunnell earned the third seed. Newtown capped off the regular season with a 12-1 drubbing of visiting Weston, on May 19.

Against Masuk, Newtown got great starting work from Jason Hebner, who pitched into the ninth inning before the Panthers scratched out the winning run with reliever Michael Parker on the mound. Hebner was tagged with the hard-luck loss, since an inherited base runner scored on Parker. Hebner allowed just four hits, but Masuk manufactured runs on a sacrifice fly and fielder’s choice on a bunt to win it.

“They got it done; they figured out a way to get it done and we didn’t,” Newtown Coach Matt Memoli said. “We have to figure out a way to get a little more production all the way through the lineup.”

Newtown mustered six hits and four walks, but pushed only one across, when Hebner helped his own cause with a second-inning RBI single for a 1-0 lead.

After Masuk knotted the score in the fifth, the Hawks had a chance to reclaim the advantage in the top of the sixth. David Matthews led off with a single, stole second base, and later took third on a wild pitch, but was tagged out at home plate attempting to score on a tag up play on a fly out off the bat of Sam Czel. Masuk starting pitcher Chris Lindquist worked around trouble throughout the afternoon.

“I think we had as many opportunities as we could have,” Memoli said. “We just didn’t get it done.”

The Panthers pushed across the winning run when pinch runner slid across the plate to beat a throw home after Matt Romaniello put a bunt into play. Newtown played solid defense with Matthews making a diving stop at first late in the game, and center fielder Jaret DeVellis going airborne to make a diving catch, also in the late innings.

The Nighthawks have faced tough pitching late in the season. They were shut out 2-0 by visiting New Fairfield on May 13, and edged host New Milford 3-2 a couple of days later. Matthews drove in all three runs against New Milford, belting a two-run home run and adding a sacrifice fly. Austin Kasbarian pitched six innings and allowed two runs on seven hits, fanning five batters in the win over New Milford.

These nail-biting pitcher’s duels are a bit new to the Hawks; they’ve had five double-digit outbursts, plus a 9-0 triumph.

“It’s good being in them — you want to win them,” Memoli said of close games and how they can help prepare a team for the postseason.

“These are the types of games we’re going to need to win in the playoffs,” Masuk Coach Ralph Franco added.

The Masuk coach was thrilled to beat Newtown, something that’s been rare of late. The Hawks edged Masuk 8-7 earlier in the spring. “This is the first time we’ve beaten them in a couple of years,” Franco said.

Newtown got back to its high-scoring ways in the throttling of Weston, which won just four conference games this spring. Andrew Ross was tough on the mound, allowing only two hits and one run, striking out four batters, and walking just one in five innings of work. Scoreless relief was provided by Nick Lotrecchiano and Alex Klang.

Parker had a big day at the plate, going 3-for-3 with four runs batted in, and a pair of runs scored; Czel went 2-for-3 with two RBI, and a run scored; Julian Dunn was 3-for-3 with a couple of runs driven in, and three runs scored; and Jake Oliger went 3-for-4 with an RBI and two runs scored.