After being run-ruled by Masuk of Monroe twice during the regular season, Newtown High School’s baseball team got hot at the plate when the teams met in the South-West Conference tournament quarterfinals. Unfortunately for the seventh-seeded Nighthawks, the second-seeded and host Panthers used a late-game rally to win a wild, see-saw battle 14-13 in eight innings on May 22.

Newtown built a 13-8 lead through five innings, sparked by a booming pair of Karl Miller triples, the second of which cleared the bases with three runs as part of his four-RBI day.

Nighthawks relief pitcher Will Burns, a starter summoned to put out an early fire as Masuk erased a 3-0 deficit and seized an 8-3 lead after two innings of play, battled and settled in to hang some zeros while the Nighthawk bats struck for a pair of runs in the third, and four each in the fourth and fifth innings. David Braun relieved in the seventh and worked out of some trouble to get the game into the eighth.

Masuk got a run in the sixth and a couple of singles and walks started a four-run rally in the seventh to send the game into extra innings. Thomas Palermo drove in the winning run with a two-out single. Tyler Kipp had four hits and drove in four to lead Masuk.

Charlie Curtis had three hits, four runs batted in, and three runs scored; Grayson DeFelice had a pair of hits and two RBI; CJ Demers had a hit, two walks, an RBI, and three runs scored; Dylan Goyette had three hits and three runs scored; and Jack Petersen, Charlie Eppers, and Braun all had contributions with hits and/or runs scored in a balanced offensive attack.

The teams combined for 30 hits. The Nighthawks matched their season high with a baker’s dozen runs, but Masuk — which produced double-digit offense nine times during the regular slate — had its highest-scoring performance of the campaign.

There were multiple arguments during the game — a traditional coach-versus-umpire dispute in which Masuk’s first base coach was sent to the dugout for vehemently arguing a call, or what he claimed was a lack of any signal on what umpires ruled a foul ball — and Masuk fans were spoken to by an on-duty police officer for heckling. Words were exchanged between a combination of players and coaches of the opposing teams multiple times during and after the game, but cooler heads prevailed. It is, after all, a game.

But it was a tough outcome for the Nighthawks who, after being on the verge of erasing a some regular-season frustration at the hands of the Panthers, could not hang on.

“Very disappointed — I thought we played our hearts out,” Newtown Coach Ian Thoesen said. “I was proud of the guys today. I think they played very well.”

Thoesen was pleased with the effort of the entire team and credited Masuk for being a good-hitting group.

“It was a great game. We played together. Braun battled, Burns was great, we had timely hitting. Karl was great. Everybody stepped it up today — one through nine,” the NHS coach said.

As disappointing as the loss was, Newtown can take some confidence from being ultra-competitive with Masuk this time into the state playoffs. NHS is the No. 20 seed and will visit No. 13 Glastonbury in the Class LL state playoff first round on Tuesday, June 1, starting at 3:30 pm.

Sports Editor Andy Hutchison can be reached at andyh@thebee.com.