After falling behind early, Lady Trojans battle back to topple Jamestown 10-2 to remain undefeated

New Kent’s Hannah Tober commands the mound in her first start of the year as she hurls a strike across the plate against Jamestown.

Robb Johnson photo

As with many sports contests, records don’t mean anything when teams face off against each other. But New Kent’s Lady Trojans’ softball team learned in the Apr. 21 matchup that being undefeated comes with a target on their back.

Despite facing a winless Jamestown Lady Eagles team, New Kent had to battle back from an early deficit to earn a 10-2 win over the visitors.

New Kent turned to Hannah Tober on the mound, relieving normal pitcher Abby Kegley of her duties early on. But after an early walk by Tober, New Kent committed an error that placed Jamestown runner Eva Long on base. Long would advance along the path and be brought home by Meleah Maharty’s sacrifice fly for an early 1-0 lead for the visitors. Moments later, Skyler Pickens two-base RBI scored a second run as Jamestown carried a 2-0 advantage before New Kent took its first at-bat.

New Kent’s first run came in the bottom of the first, as a passed ball allowed Norah Murray to cross home plate. Still, the hosts would find themselves behind until the bottom of the third when McKenna Mueller’s towering shot to the wall brought home Hannah Perkins to tie the game. Mueller would cross home plate after Morgan Berg’s sacrifice to provide the Lady Trojans their first lead of the game (3-2).

In the bottom of the fourth, New Kent’s offense finally opened the flood gates. Four runs cross the plate for the hosts as Jamestown’s errors contributed to the cause. New Kent added three more runs in the fifth to stretch the score to 10-2, which would be the final of the game.

After the contest, New Kent Lady Trojans’ Head Coach Maria Bates talked about the focus on developing her pitching rotation.

“We have four pitches that throw really well and three are freshman, so we want to be in a spot where we are developing all of these pitchers,” she said. “Getting them live game experience is something we want them to have if something happens to our starter.

The head coach then turned her attention to her team’s hitting and refocus after trailing early in the game.

“We have given up a few runs this season, but we have been a better hitting team,” Bates continued. “I was not worried about giving up the runs. I was more worried that we didn’t come back and score more.

“Once we got our timing down, we were knocking the balls to the fence and it started to put pressure on the other team,” the head coach concluded.

New Kent’s Lady Trojans remain undefeated with a 9-0 record.