Lady Trojans come up short in upset bid over Smithfield

New Kent catcher Haley Cleaver gloves a pop-up in foul ground for a fifth inning out.

Alan Chamberlain photo

Last month, New Kent’s Lady Trojans absorbed a 12-0, five-inning defeat at the hands of Smithfield’s Packers. Tuesday’s rematch at New Kent featured a much-improved Lady Trojan team with the ability to turn the contest into a see-saw affair.

But the Packers broke a 4-4 deadlock with a solo run in the fifth inning. The visitors then held off their hosts over the final two frames to escape with a 6-4 win.

“[Smithfield] started hitting us really well,” Lady Trojan coach Maria Bates said, pointing to the Packers overcoming her team’s early lead.

“This team beat us 12-0 last time, but this was a close game all the way,” she said. “We battled back and kept it close. There’s not much more I can ask for. We just didn’t come out on top.”

New Kent took a 1-0 lead in the first inning on Peyton Slater’s single followed by Haley Hyndshaw’s RBI hit. Taylor Yates’ bunt single coupled with Taylor Goode’s sacrifice set up Slater for a RBI double and a 2-0 lead in the third.

Smithfield pushed across its first run in fourth. The visitors then erupted for three fifth inning runs to move in front 4-2.

Yates led off the home half of the fifth with a single to left field. She moved to second on another Goode sacrifice and took third on Slater’s single past third. Haley Cleaver followed with a two-run double into the left field corner to overtake the Packers at 4-4.

But the Packers moved back in front to stay in the sixth, without managing a hit. Two errors and a hit batter produced the go-ahead run. An insurance run crossed the plate in the seventh.

New Kent, now 3-13, got a one-out double from Kerstin Snyder in the sixth and a one-out single from Slater in the seventh, but Snyder was stranded at second and Slater became a force-out victim at second.