Lady Trojans fall to second

Lady Trojan coach Nicole O’Bier congratulates Peyton Fleming on her seventh inning triple. Unfortunately, Fleming was stranded.

Alan Chamberlain photo

New Kent’s Lady Trojans fell short in their quest for first place in Bay Rivers softball. Behind pitcher Sydney Gay’s 20 strikeouts and a controversial tiebreaker softball rule that played in the Packers’ favor, Smithfield posted a 1-0 win in nine innings to take over sole possession of first.

New Kent, 15-3 after wins at Poquoson and Bruton, was seeded second heading into the district tournament.

“Gotta keep their heads high,” Lady Trojan coach Nicole O’Bier responded when asked what she told her team after the disappointing loss.

“We played awesome defense, but we were just not hitting,” she said. “I’ve got no complaints with the way we played. I just wish we’d hit more.”

Gay struck out the first 10 batters she faced. New Kent pitcher Marisa Bush, meanwhile, struck out eight while giving up just two hits and a pair of walks.

New Kent touched Gay for only one hit, but Peyton Fleming’s triple nearly won the game in the bottom of the seventh. With one away, Fleming drove a Gay pitch into right field. On contact, right fielder Mallory Jaax misjudged the drive, taking two steps in. That was enough for the ball to sail over Jaax’s outstretched glove and roll to the fence.

Gay, however, resumed her strike out performance. She fanned Brittany LaPrade and Emily Silver to end the threat.

As the contest entered the ninth, the tiebreaker rule came into play whereby each team starts with a runner already on second base. Smithfield’s top of the batting order was due up to start the ninth with Elizabeth Williams on second.

Bush struck out leadoff batter Allie Novak, but a passed ball with Gay at the plate enabled Williams to race to third. Gay then drove a high fly to center, deep enough for Williams to tag up and score the eventual winning run.

In the home half of the ninth, New Kent had the bottom of the batting order at the plate with Paige Simpson standing at second. Emi Peterson attempted to bunt Simpson over to third but struck out. Karley Allen’s sacrifice bunt moved Simpson to third, but Gay struck out pinch hitter Kristen Saunders to end the game.