In battle of undefeated teams, New Kent comes up short against Tabb

New Kent's Amya Evans slides into home plate to score the first run of the game.

Robb Johnson photo

New Kent’s Lady Trojans and Tabb’s Lady Tigers entered into Friday afternoon’s contest with identical undefeated records of 10-0. But some hot swinging bats by the visitors combined by a few mistakes by the hosts resulted in the Lady Trojans dropping their first game on the year.

Tabb took round one of the Bay Rivers clash, winning 11-4 over New Kent. The rematch is scheduled for Apr. 26 at Tabb.

New Kent scored first, as Kerstin Snyder’s RBI double drove Amya Evans across the plate in the bottom of the second inning, providing a 1-0 lead for the hosts.

The Lady Tigers countered in the next inning that began with an Amber Verstynen triple. After the guests loaded the bases, one run for the guests crossed the plate via a base on balls while a sacrifice fly bestowed a 2-1 advantage.

Tabb continued to connect against New Kent’s pitching staff. In the top of a fourth, the visitors cleared the bases on a three-run triple by Sydney Jacobsen into deep center field.

Trailing 5-1, New Kent’s momentum and luck fell out of favor for the hosts as a questionable call on a ball that appeared foul was deemed fair. This resulted in Tabb’s Gracie Roberts RBI double. Tabb added five more runs in the sixth inning and went on to victory.

New Kent Lady Trojan head coach Maria Bates talked about her team’s first setback on the year and how one inning can change the outcome of the contest.

“We did a lot of good things today and that’s a great hitting team over there,” she said. “We had a few innings that changed things, especially the top of the fifth with that call.

“The bottom line is today’s loss stung,” Bates continued. “But it was a big match-up and it will be the same when we see them next Thursday. We’re hoping to fix some things along with the scoreboard.”

New Kent drops to 10-1 on the year.