NEWINGTON - Newington’s softball team is generating buzz in the community with its impressive play through the first half of the season.

       The Indians have won seven of nine games this season, including last Monday’s 11-3 victory over conference rival New Britain.

       Senior ace Olivia Burgos pitched a complete game eight-hitter on a cool, windy night at Martha Hart Park in New Britain. The victory was Newington’s fifth straight over its crosstown foes, but the upset-minded Golden Hurricanes gave the visiting Indians all they could handle over the first four innings.

       â€�"New Britain always plays us tough in these types of games. They always battled, they don’t give up, and they’re tough kids,” said Newington coach Steve Markie. â€�"They’re a nice group of kids and they are very young, which is great for the future. I told our kids on the bus ride that it was going to be a battle. It was a battle here last year and that’s what it was tonight.”

       Clinging to a 2-1 advantage, Newington broke the game open with a three-run fifth inning. Burgos helped her own cause from the plate, opening the flood gates with a triple that drove in sophomore Kacey Blais.

       â€�"Olivia is not only an all-state pitcher, but she hits the ball really well too,” Markie said about the team’s multi-faceted senior leader. â€�"We’ve been able to get her some other opportunities this year.”

       Junior Alyssa Bellizzi added an RBI and was later driven home by a single from Katerina Lagace for the third run of the fifth inning. Lagace’s single was one of three hits for the sophomore during the evening.

       Bellizzi, who plays first base, also helped open the game’s scoring in the first inning when she drew a walk with the bases loaded. The walked sent home leadoff hitter Haley Blais, who also tallied three hits.

       The team’s lineup looks different from last season, when they had a handful of seniors leading the way. Last season’s team finished 13-7 in the regular season and won a tourney game, before being knocked out in the second round of the Class LL tournament.

       Burgos, catcher Katrina Peck and center fielder Kennedy Sullivan are the team’s seniors this season. Behind the trio is a nucleus of talented, young players that are producing and playing with confidence because of the experience they gained from last season’s tournament run.

       â€�"We’re off to a good start. We’re lucky that we have so many kids with experience,” added Markie, who is in his 16th year at Newington. â€�"We returned seven kids that saw a fair amount of starts last year and that experience is starting to pay off this season.”

       Newington ended any doubt of a New Britain’s upset bid with five runs in the top of the seventh inning. Sullivan started the scoring barrage with a single that drove in two runs. Junior Kaitlyn Bernacki added an RBI double and sophomore Rebecca Nisotis cranked an RBI single.

       New Britain’s Destini Kennedy was solid from the mound over the first four innings, but Newington’s balanced lineup eventually caught up to the hard-throwing righty. The senior surrendered 14 hits in the game, with 10 of those hits coming after the fourth inning.

       Burgos had the opposite experience and seemed to get stronger as the game went on. She closed the game with a strikeout, which was the final of her 11 K’s on the evening. She’s been in complete command from the mound in the first half of the season and has received help from Lagace, who is being groomed to take over as the team’s ace next season.

       â€�"Kat [Lagace] has done a great job this season and she’s a pretty good pitcher herself,” Markie said about the underclasswoman. â€�"She’s been able to get some varsity pitching experience this season and that experience will only help her in the future.”

       Markie’s crew followed up the victory over New Britain with an equally impressive 8-3 triumph over Conard High School. It was the third straight time that Newington has defeated the West Hartford-based school.

       The upstart Indians then gave powerhouse Southington all they could handle, before losing 8-3. Markie said the game with Southington would be a great measuring stick. The Blue Knights are attempting to three-peat, after winning the Class LL finals in 2013 and 2014.

       â€�"We’re a couple of hits away from really getting going and I think that offensively we can be pretty good,” Markie added, â€�"Last year we didn’t have a very deep lineup, but I think we do this year.”

       Newington is in the midst of a four game road trip, but they’ll return home next Thursday, May 14, for a rematch against New Britain at 4 p.m. The match will be part of a home stand to end of the regular season, in which the Indians play four of their final five games at Newington High School.