Finney’s two-run, walk-off single vaults New Kent over Jamestown

Kaitlyn Finney (right) gets a congratulatory hug from teammate Stephanie Torrence after her two-run, walk-off single toppled Jamestown.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Rolling the dice, New Kent Lady Trojan softball coach Nicole O’Bier reached into her bench, inserting Kaitlyn Finney as a pinch hitter for one of her team’s best offensive weapons.

With her team trailing Jamestown’s visiting Eagles 2-1 today (Wednesday) in the bottom of the seventh inning and runners in scoring position at second and third, O’Bier reasoned the gamble to be worth a try. And it paid off.

Finney delivered a sinking line drive into shallow right-center. Hard charging Eagle center fielder Jane Petrup lunged to make a shoe-top catch, but the ball skipped under her glove. Both runners scored, handing New Kent a 3-2 walk-off victory.

“Sometimes you get into a situation where you’ve got to try something,” O’Bier said afterward, pointing to her decision to lift Peyton Fleming, who had gone 0-for-3 at the plate against Eagle pitcher Adrianna Reynolds.

“This was not a reflection on who I took out, but if you don’t take chances, you don’t know what the outcome will be,” the coach added.

As for Finney, she confessed to having nerves almost get the best of her as she approached the plate with bat in hand.

“I was really nervous,” she said. “I was trying to get a base hit to come back and win for us.”

Reynolds, meanwhile, stood three outs away from sealing the upset win for the 4-10 Eagles against the 9-3 Lady Trojans. But leadoff hitter Abby Spangler stroked a single past shortstop, and Dani Foster reached on a throwing error that enabled both to move into scoring position. Next up, Finney who had the power to connect on an inside pitch from Reynolds and drive the ball the opposite way.

“I was really worried,” she said, recalling what went through her mind as she watched the flight of the ball into the outfield. “I thought [Petrup] was going to catch it, but it caught the top of her glove and she didn’t catch it.”

The two-run, walk-off single upped New Kent’s record to 10-3 and borrowed a page from the Trojan baseball team’s playbook. Over the past two weeks, the Trojans twice have gone the walk-off win route.

Despite clubbing 11 hits, the Lady Trojans had problems producing runs. Seven runners left on base didn’t help.

Jamestown, meanwhile, owned a 2-0 lead heading into the New Kent half of the fourth inning when Madison Beasley doubled and scored to erase the zero on the home side of the scoreboard. Lady Trojan pitcher Marisa Bush scattered five hits and struck out seven while keeping the Eagles in check in the later innings.

Afterward, O’Bier said competition this year is fierce and it should come as no surprise that a team with Jamestown’s record can challenge the upper echelon, adding, “This season it can be anybody’s ball game.”