The Nansemond River High School softball team lost to Hickory High School 7-3 on Wednesday evening being eliminated from tournament play.

The Lady Warriors had an unsuccessful night against a Hickory team that seemed to have everything go its way.

Coach Gabe Rogers saw Hickory’s strategy and knew exactly how they were beaten.

“Hickory just kind of nickel and dimed us, they got a run here, they got two runs there and in one inning they got four runs,” he said. “Everything they hit they found a hole. It was just one of those things.”

Maddie McGrath, Kelly Lafferty and KateLynn Hodgkiss were the three scorers on the evening.

“They had hits that got over the infield and in front of the outfield, and most of their hits came when they had somebody on base,” Rogers said. “They came up with big timely hits and got those runs.”

Rogers realized that when a play needed to be made it didn’t happen, whereas Hickory was making plays left and right.

“We had plays that could’ve been made that just didn’t get made; they made their plays,” Rogers said.

Having lost the game, the Lady Warriors’ season has ended. Rogers told the girls that they had a great year and that he was proud of what they did. The Lady Warriors had seven seniors on their team this year, and this was their last game.

“I told them ‘Don’t cry … Don’t cry out of sadness that it’s over, if you want to cry, cry about all of the happiness that we got to experience and enjoy each other with,’” said Rogers. “This is by far one of the greatest teams I have ever coached as far as friendships and relationships we’ve developed. We have a lot of respect for each other.”