Typically, as the temperature heats up, so too do the bats. But, despite this cool start to spring, Newtown High School's softball team has been red-hot at the plate. The Nighthawks averaged 12 runs per game over their first three contests of the year en route to a 3-0 start heading into Wednesday's scheduled visit to Brookfield, beginning at 4:15 pm.

"Generally, good pitching cures a lot of ills. This year, so far, offense is making the difference," Newtown Coach Bob Guererra said. "The offense and the defense have exceeded expectations."

Guererra is confident the pitching will come around soon enough and has been pleased with how his throwers, Lauren Wilcox and Sara Kennedy, have battled against tough-hitting lineups.

Newtown began the season with an 11-7 win over visiting Trumbull, a tough FCIAC squad, on April 6. Then came another anticipated battle with a strong FCIAC team, Darien, which knocked the Nighthawks out of the state playoffs a year ago. The April 8 rematch, also at Newtown, was only a battle for two and a half innings. The game was tied 4-4 when the Nighthawks plated seven runs in the bottom of the third on their way to a 17-5, run-rule five-inning triumph.

"It was a tight two, three innings and then, all of sudden, the flood gates opened up and we were on our way," Guererra said.

"It was amazing. They were not expecting that," said Newtown third baseman Katie Laaksonen, who picked up her 100th career hit in the triumph.

Laaksonen added that the Nighthawks, likewise, didn't anticipate a blowout. "Definitely not. I was coming in thinking it was going to be a hard game."

Newtown's nonconference matchups were expected to challenge the Hawks and Guererra tried to find the tough opponents to help prepare his defending South-West Conference lineup for another playoff run.

Among the opening-week games on the slate was one with yet another good FCIAC team, St Joseph of Trumbull. It was postponed because of bad weather, and is slated to be made up this Saturday, April 16, when the Cadets visit Newtown at 2 pm.

St Joseph beat the Hawks by ten runs on its way to an unbeaten campaign and reaching the Class M state final a year ago. Maybe Newtown caught a break in week one when the game was postponed; but then again perhaps the Cadets are the ones who caught the break given the way the Hawks dismantled Darien and have started out of the gates in general.

St Joes blanked each of its first two opponents heading into the middle of this week, so this year's matchup stands to be a tough test for the hard-hitting Nighthawks.

Newtown outslugged host New Milford 8-6, in their first clash with an SWC team, on a windy April 11 afternoon. The Hawks saw the Green Wave trim into a 5-0 deficit to pull to within two runs in the fifth inning. Laaksonen hit an insurance-turned-pivotal home run to left field, a three-run shot for an 8-3 lead in the top of the sixth inning.

In the bottom of the sixth, Avery Kelly delivered a three-run double off the center field fence to again pull the Wave to within two, and New Milford put the tying runner in scoring position in the seventh inning before Kennedy closed the door with a strikeout.

"They're a good team - they're the best team in our conference," New Milford Coach Frank Bonacci, a Newtown resident, said of the Nighthawks. "They put the bat on the ball; they're aggressive at the plate."

The Nighthawks jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first as Laaksonen and Kamdyn Moroney delivered RBI singles. They added two more in the second as Mali Klorczyk got in a rundown between first and second base, allowing Laaksonen to score from third on a designed play, and Moroney added another run-producing single.

The Green Wave came back to make this game and set up an enticing battle when the teams meet again in Newtown in mid-May.

"I'm really, really proud of the way my girls hung in there," Bonacci said.

Guererra is pleased with how his offense has hung around through the first few games.

"We're getting contributions from everybody. I'm happy with the way we're starting out," the Newtown coach said.

In the opener, against Trumbull, Tess Mubarek slugged a home run to center field as part of a two-hit performance, knocking in two runs. Klorczyk went 3-for-4 with a double and a trio of runs batted in, and Laaksonen added two doubles for Newtown. Right fielder Emily Bell made several nice defensive plays for the Hawks.

Against Darien, Kennedy had a two-run double as part of a four-RBI performance, Laaksonen knocked in three runs and scored four times, Klorczyk had four hits, including a homer, drove in two, and scored four runs, Laaksonen had a pair of RBI singles, a homer, and four runs scored, and Jill Lasorsa, Mackenzie Macchiarulo, Moroney, and Haley Ryan also contributed hits.

Newtown is scheduled to visit Masuk of Monroe on Friday, April 15, beginning at 4:15 pm.