New Kent eases past Bruton in BRD baseball, softball

ct baseball encounter with Bruton’s visiting Panthers, New Kent coach Ronnie Cox worried how his batters would react to the submarine-style delivery of Bruton pitcher Matt Adams.

His fears, however, proved to be unfounded as the host Trojans jumped on Adams for three first inning runs on the way to a 6-3 victory.

“We got out of the gate early and that makes it easier,” Cox said following his team’s March 31 triumph that raised New Kent’s record to 4-2.

“It made it a lot easier for Ryan [Patterson] to pitch with a three-run lead,” he added.

Patterson went five and two-thirds innings on the mound, giving up just four hits while striking out three. Steven Allen finished in relief, striking out two and allowing one hit.

“I was a little concerned going in,” Cox said. “Our kids don’t see many submariners, and he’s their best pitcher. But we made him work, and we also got a lot of walks.”

In the New Kent half of the first inning, leadoff hitter Jimmy Newcomb greeted Adams with a sharp single up the middle. Newcomb stole second just before Adams bounced a pitch off Allen to put two aboard. Then Adams walked Derrick Curtis to fill the bases.

The next batter, Kirk Pomfrey, drove Adams’ first offering into deep left field for a two-run double. Adams’ struck another batter, Patterson this time, to load the bases for Willie Driscoll whose sacrifice fly to left delivered Curtis for the early 3-0 lead.

New Kent added a run in the second after Panther second baseman Mike Engbersen bobbled a ball hit by Kevin Peddicord. Newcomb doubled to deep left to drive in Peddicord, but got thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a triple.

Bruton got one run back in the third, but New Kent answered in the bottom of the frame as Pomfrey singled and scored on another Driscoll sacrifice fly. The Panthers closed the gap to 5-3 in the fifth before the hosts tacked on an insurance run as Allen singled and scored.

In the Panther seventh, Adams stroked a two-out double to the left field fence, but Allen got Will Hailey to bounce out shortstop to first to end the game.

New Kent’s Lady Trojan softball team followed the Trojan baseball scenario of taking command early. One run in the first inning and three more in the second proved to be all the hosts needed to turn back Bruton 4-1 and even their Bay Rivers District record at 3-3.

“Yesterday, we got five hits and lost, and today we got five hits and won,” Lady Trojan coach Betsey Lane said after the March 31 triumph.

Needless to say, Lane would prefer to see much more production at the plate, especially in the later innings for the benefit of breathing room.

Leadoff hitter Tyler Fleming got New Kent started in the bottom of the first with a single. She stole second, moved to third on a passed ball, and scored on Ashley McMichael’s sacrifice fly.

In the home half of the second, Nikki Jones singled to lead off and Sarah Barnett followed with another single. A passed ball moved both runners up a base before an error on a bouncer to short by Dominique Johnson scored Jones. Rachel Baldwin then stroked a double down the right field line to open the 4-0 advantage.

McMichael pitched the first four innings, allowing only one hit while striking out four, before giving way to reliever Ashley Wood to start the fifth. Wood gave up a single in the fifth, but ran into trouble in the sixth as a single and an error put the first two Panther batters on base.

Shannon McKinley’s single down the left field line cut the New Kent lead to 4-1. The Lady Trojan defense then got a force play at third for the first out, but a throwing error on a double play attempt placed runners at second and third.

Wood, however, settled down, getting Katelyn McDonnell on a fly ball into left field. Fleming, on the run in shallow right from her second base post, gloved Miranda Clarke’s pop fly to end the uprising.

Renee Silver relieved Wood in the seventh and final frame, retiring the Panthers in order.