King’s Fork High School’s softball team experienced a bit more success than Lakeland High School against opponents from Virginia Beach on Thursday, though both Suffolk squads struggled at times.

The Lady Bulldogs went 1-1 on the day, and the Lady Cavaliers went 0-2 during the Jazmine Foreman Memorial Softball Tournament at Grassfield High School.

King’s Fork saved the best part of its day for last, closing out its day at Grassfield with a 10-9 victory over Tallwood High School. Things did not look good for the Lady Bulldogs at the outset of the game, though.

“Tallwood came out right off the bat and scored four runs,” King’s Fork coach Richard Froemel said. “And then we scored two in the first.”

Not long after Lady Bulldogs junior Lauryn Bailey led off with a base hit, senior Lindsay Carlesi hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to make it 4-2.

The Lady Lions scored three more runs in the top of the second, and King’s Fork responded with one to make it 7-3 going into the third inning.

The Lady Bulldogs’ defense was effective in the top of the third. Keeping Tallwood off the board, King’s Fork went through only four batters to get three outs.

Then, KF sophomore Madison Froemel led off the bottom of the third with a home run, and her teammates added two more runs after that to bring the Lady Bulldogs within one, 7-6, at the beginning of the fourth.

Tallwood made it 8-6 in the top of the inning, but King’s Fork did more with the other half.

Lady Bulldogs freshman Selina Saba led off with a walk, and shortly thereafter, “Madison came up and hit another home run.”

The two-run shot tied the game up.

The Lady Lions could not respond in the fifth, during which King’s Fork went ahead 10-8.

Tallwood managed one more run in the sixth for the game.

Madison Froemel went 2-for-4 in the contest, hitting her second and third homers of the season. Lady Bulldogs junior Danielle Arzillo was big for her team in the middle of the lineup, where she went 3-for-4 and scored two runs.

Batting right behind her was junior Mallory Moore, who was 3-for-4, with three runs batted in and two runs scored.

King’s Fork sophomore Rachel Vick produced two RBIs.

The Lady Bulldogs ended up with 10 runs, 10 hits and 10 RBIs for the game.

King’s Fork senior Kay’Lee Justice improved to 4-2 in the circle.

“She had three strikeouts,” coach Froemel said. “She managed the game well.”

There was still room for improvement for the Lady Bulldogs in the win.

“The mental game is still haunting us — three errors,” Froemel said. “We’ve got to get over that.”

King’s Fork started the day on Thursday with a 5-1 loss to Ocean Lakes High School.

“We played well, it was 2-1 going into the fifth inning, and the bottom dropped,” Froemel said. “We made some mental errors that cost us.”

Playing in the same time slot, 9 a.m., was Lakeland, which fell 9-2 to Kempsville High School.

In the afternoon, the Lady Cavaliers took on Ocean Lakes and lost 13-3 in a mercy-rule shortened contest.

Though the scores became more lopsided, Lakeland coach James Roddy saw improvement from his girls as the day went on.

“Attitudes got better, improved,” he said. “As I said, we’re still young, trying to get that philosophy to change.”

He emphasized hustle and effort with his players after the second game.

“When the ball is hit, and it’s in the hole, you can’t jog for it,” he said he told them. “You’ve got to run harder to get to the ball.”

He said the Ocean Lakes game was a lot better than the Kempsville contest for Lakeland, “even though the score didn’t look like it, but we did hit, and we did play better.”

Against Ocean Lakes, “Jada (Futrell) did good. Brittney Strickland had a good game, so did Morgan Stevens.”

Roddy praised Stevens, a sophomore, for good base-running against Kempsville, and he also highlighted the pitching of junior Whitney Jones in the morning.

“Whitney pitched really well, too,” he said. “She’s coming along. It’s getting that confidence and building that confidence up and things like that, too, that they need.”

Sophomore Sara Matthews took over in the circle against Kempsville, helping to limit the opposition.

Meanwhile, on offense, sophomore Alex Kinsey created a highlight with a big timely hit.

King’s Fork (4-2) visits Lakeland (1-5) on Tuesday.