New Kent bats erupt too late to overtake Jamestown

Covering the plate, New Kent's Alex Peace waits for the throw that arrived too late to erase Jamestown's Ariana Reynolds in the fourth inning.

Alan Chamberlain photo

New Kent’s Lady Trojans ruined Jamestown pitcher Madelyn Morton’s no-hitter bid in the sixth inning with three hits leading to a pair of runs in Wednesday’s softball encounter. By then, however, the visiting Eagles had built a 6-0 advantage. New Kent could not cash in the rest of the way, enabling the Eagles to post an 8-2 victory.

“I feel like we’re not coming in focused,” New Kent coach Maria Bates said after her team fell to 1-6. “We’re in a little hitting slump, but at least we were able to fight back.

“We’ll get there,” she added. “We’ve just got to play a full seven innings.”

Jamestown broke a scoreless deadlock with three runs in the third inning. Three more Eagles crossed the plate in the next frame.

New Kent could not touch Morton until the sixth when leadoff hitter Taylor Goode stroked a single. Taylor Yates followed with another single, placing two aboard for Haley Cleaver who drove in both with a double. The visitors, however, got those two runs back in the seventh.

Abigail Young’s leadoff pop-up dropped between infield defenders in the Lady Trojan seventh, but Morton retired the next three batters to end the game.