Lady Trojans claim softball home opener; New Kent baseball team blanked

Lady Trojan second baseman Peyton Slater reaches for the ball but not in time to force out a Jamestown runner at second.

Alan Chamberlain photos

New Kent’s Lady Trojans built a 3-0 lead through four innings before turning back Jamestown rally attempts in two of the three finals frames to secure a 4-1 victory over the visiting Eagles.

Thursday’s softball home opener triumph evened the hosts’ record at 1-1, offsetting a loss the day before at York.

Winning pitcher Destiny Eberhard, working in her first varsity start, scattered five hits while striking out four and issuing four walks. She fell just two outs short of a complete game, needing reliever Brittany LaPrade to register the save after the Eagles got two aboard in the seventh.

Lady Trojan coach Nicole O’Bier, meanwhile, emptied her bench in the late going, sticking with her reserves despite the Jamestown threat in the final frame.

“They did a good job,” she said. “I think we have a very versatile team that allows me to move people around.”

The hosts made the most of their six hits off Eagle pitcher Arianna Reynolds. Ashleigh Bedwell’s second inning single scored Stephanie Torrence (reached base on an error) for the game’s first run. Then in the third, LaPrade tripled to drive in Peyton Slater (single) and later scored on Torrence’s sacrifice fly.

Jamestown pushed across its lone score in the fifth, just before the Lady Trojans got the run back in the bottom of the frame. LaPrade lined a double down the left field line and scored on an error on a Torrence fly ball into right field.

Back-to-back singles to start the Jamestown seventh brought the tying run to the plate. Eberhard got the Eagles’ Riley Wortsell to hit into a force out at third base. But with the top of the Eagle batting order due up, O’Bier elected to bring LaPrade into the pitcher’s circle. LaPrade got Kailey Smith to look at a third strike and Reynolds to bounce back to the circle to end the game.

Even with new starters occupying four defensive positions, O’Bier is confident her young team can successfully compete regardless of the opposition.

“We just need to get the bats going,” she said. “Then we’ll be just fine.”

New Kent’s baseball home opener, however, did not go as well. The Trojans could not make inroads at the plate against Jamestown lefthander Corey Williams, who fired a one-hit, 10-0 shutout.

“We didn’t get a whole lot going on,” said Trojan coach Ronnie Cox, whose team fell to 0-2. “[Williams] throw strikes and mixes his pitches up. And Jamestown is a very good team.”

The Eagles scored twice in the first inning off pitcher Mitchell Metheny, but then the Trojan starter regained composure, holding the visitors in check over the next two frames.

“Mitchell pitched well,” Cox said. “He settled down and pitched good enough for us to be in the game, but we couldn’t get any runs.”

Or hits. Third baseman Christian Hamby managed the lone Trojan hit, stroking a fourth inning single.

Jamestown, meanwhile, added two runs in the fourth and put the contest out of reach with a four-run fifth.

New Kent’s Brennan Gray dives back to the bag at first to avoid being picked off.