The Nansemond River High School Lady Warriors hosted the rematch with Hickory High School on a windy Friday night. The last time the teams played, Nansemond River’s pitcher suffered a major injury and the team ended up losing 16-6.

This time around, the Lady Warriors never let things get out of hand, but they gave up runs early. Down by four in the bottom of the seventh, a furious rally fell short, resulting in a 7-6 loss.

“First two innings, we gave up four runs, all of them unearned,” Nansemond River head coach Gabe Rogers said.

He pointed to errors and walks that doomed the Lady Warriors.

A walk got things started offensively for the Lady Hawks in the first inning, an error fueling their momentum. In the second inning, two more walks loaded the bases. Nansemond River appeared to have an easy put-out on a pop fly when the wind intervened and prevented the catch, allowing two more Hickory runs.

“Had those runs not occurred, it changes the whole dynamics of the game,” Rogers said. “Would we have still scored six? I don’t know. But I know they wouldn’t have scored seven.”

Senior Sydney Glover started the game on the mound for Nansemond River and pitched the first three innings.

She said her pitching stint was “not as good as I hoped, but it felt good to be able to at least contribute in some way instead of having to make Lauren (Maddrey) throw pretty much the whole game,” she said.

While happy to be pitching again, she said her throwing has “got to get better from here.”

Maddrey struggled against Hickory in the last game, she pitched the final four innings on Friday and was able to shut out the Lady Hawks, allowing only two hits.

Rogers acknowledged the important leadership that seniors Jazmine Card, Hope Mounie and Glover provide but indicated that the game was a reminder of how young his team was, with room for needed growth. The Lady Warriors started five freshman on Friday.

He said that the team tends to start out energetically, but falls behind and eventually becomes intensely focused toward the end in the effort to rally.

“If we flip that around and get focused at the beginning and then be pumped up and energetic at the end, we’re never in this situation,” he said.

While the loss was a disappointment, the girls were taking comfort in how different the game was from last time.

“We had a chance at beating them,” Jaclyn Mounie said. “Our confidence is not down.”

Mounie was a big part of why the score remained so close, responsible for six put-outs and going 2-for-3 with three RBIs on offense.

Glover too was potent on offense, going 2-for-3 and score three runs. Hope Mounie went 2-for-4 with an RBI and Morgan Lowers went 2-for-4.

Eryn Haley, who suffered facial fractures from a line drive hit in the previous meeting with Hickory, was in attendance, serving as announcer for the game. She said she is doing well and expressed pride in her teammates’ rally in the seventh.

“I was on the edge of my seat, trying to watch the end of the game,” she said.

Rogers said that though the last inning did not work in the Lady Warriors’ favor, “hopefully it will sink in, ‘Hey, we can put the ball in play. We can score runs on anybody.’”

Nansemond River (10-3, 8-3) hosts Lakeland High School on Tuesday.