It had been more than 50 years since a Connecticut soccer team won the United States Adult Soccer Association National Amateur Championship. Newtown Pride FC put the state back on the national map this past weekend, and the team is looking forward to more big things after defeating Houston-based Horizon FC 4-0 in the pinnacle game in River Grove, Ill., on August 3.

The old saying “like father, like son” has a new twist in the Thoesen household. Or, to be more accurate, on the baseball diamonds.

The hot summer days are anything but a reminder of football season, except over at Blue & Gold Stadium, where each weekday morning for several weeks leading into preseason practices, members of the Newtown High School football team have been hard at work getting ready for game action.

Among the baseball players from Newtown who had success at the collegiate level this past season were former Newtown High School and Bethel Admirals American Legion players Charlie Huegi and Dylan Champagne, whose teams met in the Super Regional Championship game, along with Sam Czel, a hitter who led his Keene State squad in a pair of offensive categories.

Baseball fanatics Jonathon Paes and Travis Huzina of Newtown are applying their knowledge of and passion for the sport and pursuing career aspirations while helping out with the Danbury Westerners of the New England Collegiate Baseball League (NECBL) this summer.

It may be the offseason, but former Newtown High School baseball player Jake Oliger (class of 2016) is hard at work hitting and working out as he prepares for his senior year on the collegiate baseball diamonds.

Former Newtown High School standout baseball player Dave Matthews, coming off an ultra-successful junior campaign at Central Connecticut State University — a history-making season for the program, in fact — is competing for the New England Collegiate Baseball League Keene Swamp Bats of Keene, N.H., this summer.

This past spring season was another success for Newtown High School’s Unified Sports program. It included the opportunity to send five students to Toronto, Canada for the Invitational Youth Games Tournament, several local events, and awards, and recognition for participants and their coach, Kathy Davey, who announced this summer that she is stepping down.

A fixture with the Newtown High School softball program, as ever-present as the fences, dugouts, and scoreboard is Lin Hertberg.