‘Prom curse’ avoided, Lady Trojans ease past Bruton

When her Lady Trojans fell behind 2-0 against Bruton, a team they had easily beaten earlier in the softball season, New Kent coach Betsey Lane feared a high school rite of spring had become a factor.

“I was thinking to myself that if this is the ‘prom curse,’ I’m going to scream. We have a history of not playing well before prom,” she said, pointing to the event that was scheduled the day after last Friday’s Bay Rivers District contest.

But her team shook off the so-called prom effect to move in front with a four-run fourth inning. From there, the hosts cruised to a 6-2 victory, upping their district record to 4-6 and evening their overall mark at 6-6.

New Kent cut the early Bruton lead in half in the third inning as DeDe Samuels led off with a single, worked her way to third, and scored on a passed ball. Then in the fourth, Kristin Colegrove walked, Sarah Barnett bunted aboard with help from an error, and both scored on Chelsea Bedwell’s double into straightaway center.

An error on a Samuels’ infield grounder scored Bedwell. Then Emily Silver followed with a line drive single to right, driving in Samuels for a 5-2 lead. Barnett singled and scored New Kent’s final run in the fifth on a Samuels’ fly ball.

“Chelsea came up with a huge hit,” Lane said. “And DeDe’s speed on the bases put the ball in play and put a lot of pressure on Bruton.”

Lady Trojan pitcher Renee Silver, meanwhile, fired a two-hitter while striking out 13. Both of Bruton’s runs were unearned.

For the first two innings, it was three up, three down for New Kent’s Trojans. But in the third, the hosts sent 14 batters to the plate, scoring 10 runs on the way to a 12-0 shutout of Bruton’s Panthers.

Last Friday’s Bay Rivers District outcome lifted New Kent to the .500 mark at 6-6 for the season. The Trojans are 4-6 in district play.

Early on, New Kent’s defense kept Bruton off the scoreboard, turning a first inning double play and nailing a Bruton runner on a steal attempt to end the Panther half of the second. But at the plate, the Trojans could not make inroads against the off-speed delivery of Panther hurler Blake Wills.

“He was giving us problems, and in the first two innings, we couldn’t do anything with him,” said Trojan coach Ronnie Cox. “But by the second time through, our batters saw what he was doing.”

Willie Driscoll led off the Trojan third with an infield single. Wills then walked Nick Maxim and threw late to third on Ryan Walters’ bunt to load the bases. Steven Allen jumped on Wills’ first pitch, bouncing a single down the third base line to drive in Driscoll and Maxim.

Hunter Pomfrey lofted a fly ball that was dropped by right fielder Mason Torrence, enabling Walters to score. Darian Carpenter followed with a two-run double to center as the scored reached 5-0.

Kyle Hudgins bounced a hot shot off Wills’ leg to put runners at the corners for Paul Robinson who poked a RBI single up the middle. Wills walked Nick Valentino and bounced pitches off Driscoll and Maxim to force in another run. Allen cleaned the bases with a three-run triple into the right field corner.

Eric Salmon’s two-run single, scoring Carpenter (walk) and Valentino (HBP), produced New Kent’s final runs in the fourth.

Robinson, meanwhile, went the distance on the mound, tossing a one-hitter while striking out four.

“Paul pitched very well,” Cox said. “He got his off-speed pitches and breaking balls over the plate for strikes, and he had good velocity throwing around 80 miles per hour.”