NRHS tames Lady Tigers in five innings
Published 10:43 pm Wednesday, April 2, 2014
The result of Nansemond River High School’s game on Tuesday against the visiting Oscar Smith High School softball team was exactly what Lady Warriors head coach Gabe Rogers had hoped for.
His team won by ten, 11-1, and it completed the job in five innings.
Because of a scheduling change, the game against the Lady Tigers was moved from Monday to Tuesday, the day before Nansemond River would do battle with cross-town rival King’s Fork High School.
Not wanting key players to risk injury or be especially fatigued, Rogers was able to pull some key players early on Tuesday, including sophomore Jaclyn Mounie.
“Lauren (Maddrey) pitched the first three innings, and then Jessie Rogers came in and pitched the last two,” he said.
Coach Rogers explained the approach he took against Oscar Smith on offense.
“We played a little bit of small ball to try to force some action,” he said, as his players avoided pop flies. “We put the ball on the ground. We did quite a bit of bunting.”
The Lady Warriors registered 13 hits for the game.
NR sophomore KateLynn Hodgkiss went 3-for-4, with two runs batted in and two runs scored. Mounie went 3-for-3, with a triple, an RBI and three runs scored. Sophomore Calah Savage went 1-for-2, and sophomore Lauren Davis recorded three RBIs.
Davis has done exactly what Rogers has needed her to do this year, moving runners and driving in runs. He said she was good enough to have played on varsity last season, but was not brought up, in part, because she is particularly young for her grade, a result of the timing of her birthday.
“She’s a good addition to the lineup,” he said. “She’s done very well for us this year.”
The Lady Warriors’ defense held Oscar Smith to two hits. Maddrey, a Nansemond River sophomore, allowed one hit and threw four strikeouts while improving her record to 4-1 this year.
Senior Jessie Rogers took over and also only allowed one hit.
Aiming to put the team first, Coach Rogers said he does not tend to talk about his daughter unless prompted. Not being a primary star on the Lady Warriors, Jessie Rogers’ name does not come up frequently, but her father took the opportunity to speak about her when asked about her performance on Tuesday.
He summed up her character and her role on the team through her offensive contribution.
“She put down a great bunt,” he said. “She doesn’t get the same at bats as a lot of the other kids.”
He sent her in, not to get the glory, not to hit hard like most players want to do, but to bunt and move the runners, even if it meant she got out herself. So she did exactly that, and got out, but she had done what the team needed.
“She’s always been that kid that wants to make sure that she can do whatever she can to make sure the team succeeds,” her father said. “She’s a wonderful kid. I love her dearly, and to me, she’s probably the best example of a team player that I’ve ever been associated with.”
Referring to her play in the circle on Tuesday, as well, Coach Rogers said, “As a father, it was very nice to see her be very successful.”
Nansemond River (4-1, 1-0) visited King’s Fork High School (2-1, 0-1) on Wednesday and hosts Hickory High School on Friday.