Lady Trojans post season opening shutout, Trojans romp 11-1 over Lafayette in five

A three-run first inning proved to be all New Kent’s Lady Trojans needed to put away Lafayette’s invading Rams. The hosts then rode the four-hit pitching of Ashley McMichael the rest of the way for a 3-0 victory in their March 20 Bay Rivers District softball season opener.

McMichael helped her own cause at the plate, tripling into the right-center field gap to drive in DeDe Samuels, who had reached on an error, and Maria Bates (single) with one away in the bottom of the first inning. Karianne Burcham then dropped a double down the right field line to score McMichael for the 3-0 advantage.

Lafayette appeared to get one run back in the third as Morgan Hayes circled the bases on a blast to the fence in right-center. But New Kent first base coach Ken Otey, observing from the dugout, watched as Hayes failed to step on first base. An appeal quickly erased the lone Ram run.

Lafayette threatened in the sixth inning, getting runners to second and third with only one out, but McMichael retired the next two batters on a ground out and strikeout to end the uprising.

McMichael, Bates, and Burcham led New Kent at the plate as each clubbed a pair of hits.

New Kent’s Trojans built a 4-0 lead over the first three innings and used a seven-run fifth to produce an early end to their Bay Rivers District baseball clash with Lafayette’s visiting Rams. The hosts captured an 11-1 triumph in their March 20 season-opening affair, shortened by the district’s 10-run slaughter rule.

“This was a great start and a great win for us,” said Trojan coach Ronnie Cox, whose team took the field for the first time after rain washed out games last week with Poquoson and Grafton.

“I felt going in that we might be a little bit behind the eight-ball since Lafayette had already played two or three games and we could have first game jitters, but today we played outstanding ball,” he said.

Kyle Henshaw, meanwhile, went the distance on the mound for the victors, giving up only a pair of singles while striking out two and walking one.

“Kyle was around the plate all day and battling,” Cox said. “He got a lot of ground balls and we turned double play after double play to keep them out of any kind of offense.”

Offense for New Kent, however, did not become a problem. Jimmy Newcomb led off the Trojan first with a double and scored on an error on a grounder stroked by Steven Allen. Then in the second, Kevin Peddicord drove in Willie Driscoll (walk) and Kyle Hudgins (walk) with a single to right. Kirk Pomfrey’s double into center field in the fourth drove in Driscoll (single) to open a 4-0 advantage.

Lafayette cut the lead to 4-1 in the fifth, but the roof fell in on the Rams in the home half of the frame, thanks in part to inaccurate Ram pitching. The Trojans loaded the bases and scored their next three runs on walks for a 7-1 edge.

Henshaw dropped a bases loaded single into right field to make it an 8-1 contest, and with the bases still filled, Newcomb cleaned the sacks with a game-ending double into the left-center field gap.

New Kent clubbed six hits, three by Newcomb including two doubles, and took advantage of eight walks.