Lady Warriors lose in return from break

Published 10:55 pm Monday, April 25, 2011

Nansemond River second baseman Kayla Coburn tosses to first for an out against Landstown Monday as the Lady Warriors (6-6) visited the Beach school for a non-district game. Landstown beat NR 8-3.

VIRGINIA BEACH — Nansemond River’s softball squad lost 8-3 at Landstown Monday. At least it was a well-timed loss for the Lady Warriors.

The Lady Warriors were mostly off during the Spring Break week, getting a couple practices in but seeing no live action.

Going up against Landstown’s excellent pitching and big hitting before getting back into Southeastern District play was just what the Lady Warriors needed, said NR head coach Tim Tarafas.

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“Playing a very good team from the Beach, this was something we needed. This should be good for the girls, sort of get everyone back to reality,” said Tarafas.

Landstown notched two runs in three of the first five innings to build a 6-0 lead. In each rally, the Lady Eagles knocked three or more hits and each inning could’ve seen a bigger number go on the board for the hosts.

In the Lady Eagle first, shortstop Jazmine Card, first baseman Amanda Lafferty and second baseman Kayla Coburn worked a double play to end a two-on, one-out jam. Card gloved a chopper and threw to Lafferty, who tossed to Coburn to get a Lady Eagle runner trying to retreat back to second.

The Lady Eagles hit homers, one inside-the-park and one beyond the leftfield fence, as part of continuing on to the 6-0 lead.

The Lady Warriors rallied to get back within striking distance in the sixth. The top of NR’s order got going with Sydney Glover singling into right to lead off.

Shelbi Holloman beat out a grounder to deep shortstop and Glover hustled to third as the throw from short to first was in the dirt.

Coburn hit a hard grounder past shortstop to bring in Glover and keep the inning going with no outs.

With two out, Loren Daubenspeck hit a chopper toward second for a Landstown error and two Lady Warrior runs.

NR couldn’t keep the margin at three heading to its last at-bats as the Lady Eagles slugged some more, using back-to-back doubles for two more runs in the bottom of the sixth.

“It was a good time to have this because, and the girls said this in our huddle (after the game), we didn’t come ready to play today so I guess that means we’ll come ready to play tomorrow,” Tarafas said.

Glover pitched all the way for NR. Coburn went 2-for-3 at the plate. All six NR hits were singles.

The Lady Warriors (6-6, 5-5) play at Western Branch this evening at 5:30 p.m. The Lady Warriors beat Western Branch 8-2 on March 18.