Disastrous seventh inning foils New Kent bid for third straight win

Lady Trojan second baseman Taylor Yates reaches to tag out York baserunner Melissa Isakson. She then fired to first to complete a fourth inning double play.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Through six innings of play, New Kent’s softball game with York’s visiting Falcons remained an affair either team could win. New Kent scored first, York rallied to go in front, and a tie occurred before the Falcons edged back on top.

But then came the seventh and final frame. And that’s when the roof fell in on the hosts.

York pushed across eight runs in the last inning on the way to a 13-3 triumph. The outcome ended the Lady Trojans’ modest two-game win streak and dropped the team to 3-9.

“York is one of the top tier teams, but the game was close up until the seventh,” said New Kent coach Maria Bates. “It’s a shame people will see the score and not realize how close the game really was.”

New Kent got on the scoreboard first, thanks in part to an error on Haley Cleaver’s lead-off pop-up to the infield. Cleaver worked her way to third before scoring on Kerstin Snyder’s single between first and second.

In the third, Taylor Yates stroked a one-out triple to the fence in center. Moments later, she scampered home on a wild pitch for a 2-0 New Kent lead.

But with two away in the York fourth, New Kent starting pitcher Haley Hyndshaw loaded the bases on three straight walks. The Falcons’ Katie Russell then looped a single to shallow left to tie the game.

Hyndshaw bounced a pitch off the next batter to again fill the sacks. Amanda Harding relieved Hyndshaw but walked the first batter she faced to force in the go-ahead run.

New Kent pulled even in the fifth. Harding led off with a double before scoring on an error on a ball hit by Yates.

Two runs in the sixth staked York to a 5-3 lead before the disastrous seventh. Russell’s two-run homer highlighted the Falcon surge.

“At least we’ve dramatically improved since the first game [with York],” Bates said. “In that game, they scored nine runs in the first inning.”