Lady Warriors rebound for first win

Published 9:48 pm Saturday, March 19, 2011

Throw: First baseman Amanda Lafferty tracks a throw from third baseman Hope Mounie in Nansemond River’s 8-2 win over Western Branch Friday at Nansemond River. Lafferty went 2-for-3 with two doubles and two RBI for the Lady Warriors.

All nine Lady Warriors in Nansemond River’s batting order got at least one hit and tallied at least a run or an RBI as sophomore Sydney Glover fired a complete game in the circle for an 8-2 win over visiting Western Branch Friday evening.

Western Branch led 2-1 headed to the Lady Warrior fourth when the Lady Warrior offense kicked in.

The bottom of NR’s order turned the momentum around. The fourth inning didn’t look to be a Lady Warrior rally, with a runner on first and two outs, until eighth-place hitter Randi-Jo Coffey singled and Jazmine Card smashed a double into right-center field for one RBI and a 2-2 score.

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Now back to the top of the order, Glover beat out a routine grounder to shortstop for an RBI single and the lead.

Shelbi Holloman followed with a lashed grounder down the left field line for an RBI double.

NR’s rally ended at 4-2 in the fourth but the Lady Warriors kept rolling each of the next two frames.

It was only the second game of the season for the Lady Warriors, but after a heartbreaking walk-off 8-7 loss at city rival King’s Fork Tuesday, dropping to an 0-2 district record wouldn’t have sat well said NR head coach Tim Tarafas. Better yet, the coach didn’t have to say anything to bring about that sentiment.

“After the King’s Fork game, at practice Wednesday the mood was kind of like — angry. Everyone was angry about the (King’s Fork) game. It was all they could talk about, saying, ‘That was our game,’” Tarafas said.

“It carried over to today. Hopefully it will carry over through the rest of the season,” Tarafas said.

After Glover sent down the Lady Bruins in order in the fifth, the Lady Warriors added a run with Loren Daubenspeck’s grounder scoring Hope Mounie after her leadoff double.

Glover moved quickly and easily through the sixth and the Lady Warriors struck for three more runs. The big hit was a two-out, two-RBI double by Amanda Lafferty. Lafferty was 2-for-3 with a sacrifice. Mounie was 2-for-4 with two runs scored.

Glover allowed five hits, with only one hit and two total base runners through the last four innings. The Lady Warriors played errorless defense to go with Glover’s pitching.

“Against King’s Fork, we made two errors and it cost us three runs. Tonight, we made no errors and that’s huge,” Tarafas said.

Nansemond River (1-1, 1-1) will host Oscar Smith Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.