New Kent ousts Park View 12-1 in Region I opener

fter surviving a closely contested Bay Rivers District softball tournament, New Kent’s Lady Trojans needed a bit of a break. And relief appeared in the guise of Park View’s Dragons in the quarterfinal round of the Region I tourney.

The hosts pounded Dragon pitching for 11 hits on the way to a 12-1 win in the May 26 affair.

New Kent scored twice in the first inning and piled on six more in the second to decide the issue in the early going.

“This was a confidence builder for us,” New Kent coach Betsey Lane said after her team easily dispatched the number three-rated team from the Southside District.

Even though her team captured the Bay Rivers regular season and tournament championships, no reward of vacation time replaced practices. She put her team through five hours of work over the two days, excluding Sunday, between the district final and Park View encounter.

“We did a lot of defensive work, and our infielders probably fielded 200 balls apiece,” she said.

After all, committing errors — five combined in the Bay Rivers semifinal and final — can be a coach’s worst nightmare. Against Park View, an error contributed to the Dragon’s lone run, but by that time, the Lady Trojans had the game in cruise control riding a 9-0 lead. And it was a Dragon error that got New Kent into the scoring column.

Leading off the New Kent first, Tyler Fleming took a Shelby Brown pitch on the right shoulder. Maria Bates bunted Fleming to second from where Fleming scored after right fielder Whitney Powell dropped Ashley McMichael’s routine fly ball. Laura Bauer then lined a shot to the fence in left-center for double to score McMichael for a 2-0 lead.

New Kent’s six-run second frame occurred after two were out. DeDe Samuels tripled into the left-center field gap and scored when third baseman Kelsey Bagwell bobbled Fleming’s easy grounder. Bates then lofted a high drive to right that eluded Powell, enabling Fleming to race home.

McMichael singled past shortstop to drive in Bates. Bauer walked and scored behind McMichael when Becca Mills tripled to the fence in right-center. Nikki Jones then singled in Mills as the advantage reached 8-0.

New Kent added a run in the third as Bates tripled to the fence in left, scoring Fleming (single). In the fourth, Bauer raced to third after her pop-up to right caromed off Powell’s ankle.

Mills singled in courtesy runner Dominique Johnson, took third on a Kayla Timberlake single, and scored run number 11 on Chelsea Bedwell’s ground out. New Kent’s final run crossed the plate in the fifth as Bates reached on an error, worked her way to third, and scored on a wild pitch.

Mills occupied the pitcher’s circle for the hosts, tossing a one-hitter. Only three Dragons reached base, all in the fourth inning. Park View’s Megan Shepherd got aboard on an error and moved to second when Brown was hit by a pitch. Shepherd scored on Park View’s lone hit, a single by Bagwell.

“Becca was really on today,” Lane said, noting her pitcher’s 11 strikeouts. Mills fanned the side in both the third and fifth innings.

The triumph upped New Kent’s record to 20-3, extended the Lady Trojan win streak to 15 games, and earned a Region I semifinal berth at Southside champion Nottoway. (New Kent beat Nottoway 4-2 in 10 innings.) Park View finished at 12-7.