New Kent sweeps series with West Point

Four straight sixth inning walks coupled with a series of wild pitches enabled New Kent’s host Trojans to break open a close non-district baseball encounter with West Point’s Pointers. The hosts then held off a last ditch Pointer rally in the seventh and final frame to post a 6-4 win.

Monday’s decision evened New Kent’s record at 4-4 and marked a vast departure from the teams’ initial clash at West Point during which the Trojans dominated on the way to a 14-2 victory in five innings. In the latest outing, West Point out-hit the Trojans 8-4.

“This was much different than the first game,” said Trojan coach Ronnie Cox, giving credit to Pointer pitcher Will Milby who kept the hosts off-balance with an off-speed delivery.

“[Milby] didn’t try to overpower us,” Cox said. “We were out in front on a lot of pitches and popping the ball up a lot. And then [West Point] made the plays and hit the ball better than we did.”

Stuart Sheffield’s RBI single handed West Point a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning, but New Kent answered with a pair of runs in the bottom of the frame. Steven Allen led off with a line drive single into right field, raced to third on a botched double play attempt on Kyle Henshaw’s grounder, and tied the game on Darian Carpenter’s sacrifice fly. Henshaw then put the hosts in front, scoring on Hunter Pomfrey’s single between shortstop and third.

West Point evened the affair with a run in the fourth, but the Trojans forged back in front in the fifth after Nick Valentino bunted aboard and took second on an errant pickoff throw. He scored on Carpenter’s two-out double.

In the New Kent sixth, Milby issued consecutive walks to Paul Robinson, Skyler Baldwin, and Ryan Walters to load the bases. A wild pitch with Valentino at the plate scored Robinson to put the hosts ahead to stay.

Milby uncorked another wild pitch, allowing Baldwin to score, before walking Valentino. Then with runners at first and third, Allen grounded into a force play at second, enabling Walters to make it a 6-2 contest.

Robinson, working in relief of starter Willie Driscoll, retired all eight batters he faced, striking out four in gaining the win on the mound. Allen took over in the seventh, weathering the West Point comeback.

New Kent’s Lady Trojans pulled away from West Point with a five-run second inning and rode the one-hit pitching of Renee Silver to a five-inning, 15-0 softball triumph over the Pointers.

The game followed the script of an earlier 16-0 win on the Pointers’ home field in which New Kent stroked 15 hits. Monday afternoon, the hosts smacked 14.

“I hope we didn’t use up all of our hits today,” Lady Trojan coach Betsey Lane said, pointing to this Friday’s key Bay Rivers District clash at home with Poquoson.

New Kent vaulted in front in the first as Emily Silver singled and scored. Pointer errors, meanwhile, contributed to the five-run second inning burst that upped the hosts’ lead to 6-0.

Chelsea Bedwell and DeeDee Samuels clubbed RBI singles in the third as the advantage reached 8-0. Bedwell drove in another run with a single in the fourth after Maria Bates and Kristin Colegrove duplicated the feat, helping to up the count to 12-0.

Bates finished with three hits and two RBI while Sarah Carter and Rachel Baldwin went two-for-three at the plate, driving in a run apiece. Nikki Jones also had a two-for-three day.

Renee Silver, meanwhile, struck out 10 and walked only one in going the distance as New Kent improved to 3-5.