Six-run burst lifts NK, 7-3

A six-run burst in the fifth inning broke a 1-1 deadlock, propelling New Kent’s Lady Trojans past Poquoson’s visiting Islanders 7-3 in a crucial Bay Rivers’ District softball encounter last Wednesday.

The victory not only avenged a 3-0, no-hit shutout last month at the hands of the Islanders, but also maintained at least a half-game lead in the district standings for the first place Lady Trojans. The outcome marked New Kent’s seventh win in a row as the team improved to 12-3.

Poquoson took a 1-0 lead in the third inning as Shannon Rollins singled and scored on Amy Putnam’s single. But New Kent answered in the bottom of the frame after Tyler Fleming reached base on an error. She scampered to third on Maria Bates’ sacrifice and scored on a passed ball.

In the next inning, the Lady Trojans then began to solve the delivery of Islander pitcher Star Gibbs who never surrendered a hit in the first encounter. The hosts got solid singles from Kayla Timberlake and Rachel Baldwin, but both were stranded on base.

“In the first game, we hit the ball right to people,” Lady Trojan coach Betsey Lane said. “Their center fielder got a lot of work.”

But the hits started falling in the fourth, and Gibbs and company collapsed in the fifth.

Bates opened the New Kent fifth with a looping single into shallow center field. Ashley McMichael’s sacrifice bunt moved Bates to second from where she scored on Laura Bauer’s triple to the fence in right-center. Becca Mills then singled, driving in courtesy runner DeDe Samuels for a 3-1 lead.

Nikki Jones followed with a hot smash off the glove of third baseman Page Turner. Then with two away, Baldwin drove a grounder between Turner’s legs to load the bases.

Chelsea Bedwell jumped on Gibbs’ first offering, stroking a two-run single past Catherine Roth at second. Then with runners at second and third, Roth’s toss on Fleming’s routine grounder sailed over first baseman Sarah Coon’s head, enabling the hosts to open a 7-1 advantage.

“We’ve just got to take care of business, and we did,” Lane said. “We did our part to hit the ball, and we put pressure on their defense.”

Poquoson got two runs back in the sixth on two singles and a walk off Mills, but the Lady Trojan hurler fanned Valarie Sothcutt to end the uprising. Mills then retired the side in order in the seventh and final frame, finishing with nine strikeouts while giving up six hits.