Walk-off double clinches 8-7 NK comeback triumph

Paul Robinson’s two-run, walk-off double climaxed a determined New Kent Trojan rally from six runs down to overcome Lafayette’s visiting Rams 8-7 in Bay Rivers District baseball.

After chipping away at what had been a 7-1 Ram lead, the host Trojans entered the final inning on the short end of a 7-4 score. But Hunter Pomfrey’s bases-loaded single sliced the margin to 7-6 before Robinson’s heroics clinched last Friday’s victory.

“I don’t ever remember us being down by three runs against a Bay Rivers team in the bottom of the seventh inning and coming back to win,” said a much relieved Ronnie Cox.

“We’ll have to build on this one,” the Trojan coach added.

Chances of a Trojan rally seemed bleak at best after Lafayette dominated the early innings behind the pitching of Adam Emerson. Ram bats, meanwhile, put together five hits in the second inning, good enough to hand Emerson a 5-0 lead. By the fourth inning, the hosts were staring at a 7-1 deficit.

“They had one big inning and strung their hits together,” Cox said. “Consequently, we couldn’t sustain a rally, but I thought we were always knocking at the door. Paul and Steven [Allen] came in to pitch in relief and kept us in it.”

And in the fifth, the Trojans got their foot in the door, thanks to singles by Willie Driscoll and Nick Maxim that highlighted a three-run burst, closing the gap to 7-4. The hosts threatened to tack on more in the sixth after Nick Valentino doubled and Robinson walked with one away, but Emerson retired the next two batters to take a seemingly safe three-run lead into the final frame.

Allen, pitching in the top of the seventh, surrendered a two-out triple to Tanner Sheldon and walked Macon Heikes. But the Trojan reliever got Emerson to bounce back to the mound, preventing the Rams from adding to their cushion.

Eric Salmon opened the Trojan seventh with a sharp grounder that shortstop Joey Gibbons gloved at the edge of the outfield grass. Salmon beat Gibbons’ throw to first for an infield single. With one away, Kyle Henshaw lined a single to left and pinch hitter Darian Carpenter walked to load the bases.

Lafayette pulled Emerson in favor of Heikes, and Pomfrey greeted the Ram reliever with a line drive single to center, scoring Salmon and Henshaw. Carpenter, hobbled by a hip injury sustained earlier this season, stopped at second.

Heikes then enticed Valentino to swing at an off-speed pitch for strike three and out number two, bringing Robinson to the plate. Robinson belted a hot shot that handcuffed Emerson, now at third, bounding off the defender’s glove and down the left field line into foul ground. Despite the injury, Carpenter easily scored the tying run, but Pomfrey hesitated as he rounded the bag at third.

“That was my fault,” said Cox, who was coaching at third base. “I had my hands up, but I was yelling, ‘Go!’ I don’t know why I had my hands up. I guess I was just caught in the moment.”

But in that moment, Ram left fielder Zach Warring had problems retrieving the ball, thus giving Trojan base runners extra time. Confusion cleared, Pomfrey turned on the speed to score the winning run.

“Hunter was able to pick up on me yelling. He took off and it was a done deal at that point,” Cox said.

“Our at-bats were great in the seventh. We didn’t swing at any bad pitches and we hit the ball well,” the coach said after watching his team improve to 6-8 in the district and 8-8 overall.

“Down 7-1, we didn’t quit,” he said. “Our guys believed they could win it, and they did.”

A five-run New Kent fourth inning broke a 1-1 deadlock, enabling the host Lady Trojans to create breathing room in their Bay Rivers softball encounter with Lafayette. The hosts then rode the two-hit, 13 strike out pitching of Renee Silver to a 6-1 triumph.

Last Friday’s outcome evened New Kent’s district record at 7-7 and upped the team’s overall mark to 9-7. The hosts are on a three-game winning streak.

“Renee pitched a great game, and we played great defense behind her,” said Lady Trojan coach Betsey Lane.

“We put the ball in play and made things happen,” she said. “Playing great defense and putting pressure on their defense have always been our ball game.”

Maria Bates drove in Emily Silver (walk) to stake the hosts to an early 1-0 lead. Renee Silver, meanwhile, struck out 10 of the first 11 Ram batters she faced. But in the Ram fourth, a walk, a bloop single, and a hit batter loaded the bases before a passed ball knotted the affair at 1-1.

New Kent, however, responded in the home half of the frame with a little help from Ram pitcher Sammie Cagle who walked Kristin Colegrove and Chelsea Bedwell. The next batter, DeDe Samuels, hit into an apparent easy force out at third base, but third baseman Ashley Lesnick dropped the throw to load the bases.

The Rams got a force out at the plate on Emily Silver’s grounder, and had another force out opportunity on Rachel Baldwin’s bouncer to third. But Lesnick uncorked a high throw to the plate, enabling Bedwell and Samuels to put the hosts in front for good.

A walk issued to Bates filled the sacks for Sarah Carter who looped a single down the right field line, driving in Silver and Baldwin for a 5-1 lead.

Bates, attempting to score from first, got tagged for the second out as Carter took third. But Sarah Barnett continued the surge with a smash that bounced off Cagle. She beat the throw to first as Carter scored the hosts’ sixth run.

Renee Silver retired the Rams in order in the sixth and erased the first two batters in the seventh. Carter then turned in a defensive gem in right field, gloving Allison Fenner’s line drive on the first hop and firing to first baseman Nikki Jones in time to end the game.