Lady Trojans sweep doubleheader with Bruton

Lady Trojan catcher Stephanie Torrence displays the ball after making a diving catch in foul ground for the final out in game two of the doubleheader with Bruton.

Alan Chamberlain photos

New Kent’s Lady Trojans used Thursday’s regular season ending, twin-bill sweep of Bruton’s Panthers to catapult into next Monday’s quarterfinal round in conference softball tournament play.

The hosts capitalized on Marisa Bush’s no-hit, 14 strike out performance in game one for a 3-0 triumph. Then in game two, Bush allowed only two hits in a 4-2 win.

The Lady Trojans, now 15-5, host Monday’s game at 5 p.m. against an opponent to be determined.

New Kent managed just two first game hits off Bruton pitcher Lauren Albrecht, but that would be all the offense they would need since Panther errors and miscues contributed to the Lady Trojan cause.

Emily Angle reached base on a second inning error before scoring on a wild pitch. Then in the third, Peyton Fleming poked one of her two singles for the game and scored on a Madison Beasley triple. Moments later, Beasley raced home on another Bruton error.

A tornado warning/thunderstorm alert delayed the start of game two for 45 minutes. When play resumed, Bruton scored solo runs in both the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead.

“We were a little shaky at first,” Lady Trojan coach Nicole O’Bier said, pointing to the game two start. “When they score or somebody makes an error, it seems it’s got to take a few minutes for us to get ourselves back together.

“The [weather] break in between kind of breaks your momentum,” she said. “If we had played straight through, then I think it would have been different.”

Her team shook off the opening doldrums in the bottom of the third. Leading off, Fleming looped a double down the right field line. Paige Simpson followed with a bunt resulting in a Bruton throwing error and Fleming sprinting home for the first New Kent run.

Beasley stroked a routine fly ball to right. Simpson tagged up at second on the catch and never stopped running until she crossed the plate to tie the affair. Bush drew a two-out walk, giving way to courtesy runner Morgan Pack. Stephanie Torrence then punched a single to shallow right, leading to another throwing error and Pack scoring the go-ahead run.

The hosts added an insurance run in the fourth on Fleming’s triple to deep left that drove in Abby Spangler (walk).

“We’ll practice Friday,” said O’Bier. “Then we’ll start a whole new season on Monday.”

New Kent second baseman Peyton Fleming looks to fire to first after getting a force out on Bruton’s McKenna Ellison.