NR baseball, softball stay hot
Published 12:27 pm Wednesday, May 5, 2010
Nansemond River’s baseball and softball squads kept their hot streaks going Tuesday, winning routs at Indian River.
NR’s baseball team made it four wins in five tries with a 10-4 win over the Braves. The Warriors, tied for fifth in the Southeastern District heading into Tuesday’s schedule, improve to 8-6 in the district. Kyle Moore led NR, getting the win on the mound and going 3-for-4 with three runs and two RBI as NR’s clean-up hitter.
In the softball game, Rachel Hawks and Randi-Jo Coffey combined to pitch a no-hitter, facing one Indian River hitter over the minimum in the six-inning 16-0 win. The Lady Warriors (7-6, 7-6) have a four-game winning streak.
Moore gave himself room to work with before even taking the mound against the Braves.
Brandon Lowe and Dylan Roach drew walks to lead off the game for the Warriors. Moore promptly drove both runners in with a double down the left field line.
With two outs and after Moore had stolen third, Ryan O’Hara scored Moore with a single for a 3-0 Warrior lead.
Moore’s work and good defense carried the Warriors through most of the contest. In IR’s first, NR retired the side with right fielder Tyler Brown catching a fly and combining with Lowe at shortstop and Josh Howard at third to throw out a Brave runner tagging up from second.
IR came close to getting to within a 3-2 margin in the bottom of the fourth. With runners on the corners and two outs, the Braves tried to cause a rundown between first and second and have the runner on third break for home. Instead, the Warriors made the play on the rundown before the other Brave runner crossed the plate.
With the score still 3-1, the Warriors broke it open in the sixth. The momentum broke for good with one swing, a home run by Roach to start the inning.
“It was a fastball, belt high. I knew I hit it hard, but I thought it was foul,” Roach said.
Roach’s line drive was hooking, but it stayed just inside the right field foul pole for the solo homer.
The next three Warrior hitters reached base to really make it a rally. O’Hara drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to center. With two outs, Brown singled for one run, Lowe singled for two RBI and Roach singled for a run to make it 9-1 NR.
Reid Hoffler relieved Moore in the IR sixth and took care of the last 1.1 innings. Moore allowed six hits and three runs while striking out six.
“Basically it’s just staying consistent. I get wild every so often, or start leaving pitches up, but I have to remember to keep everything down and remember my stuff is good enough,” Moore said.
“Really it’s too early,” said NR head coach Mark Stuffel about looking at the standings or district playoff possibilities. “We’re still on the outside looking in, but winning a game like this helps a ton. We’ve got a lot of good teams left to play.”
The Lady Warriors broke open a 1-0 game with six runs in the third. Two Indian River errors set up the big rally. Kayla Coburn drove in a run with a ground out and Anna Cain drove in a run with a single.
NR did most of the damage with two down, scoring four more runs, including two on Loren Daubenspeck’s double.
The Lady Warriors hit around the order again in the fourth, scoring four more runs.
Sydney Glover, in the leadoff spot, scored all five times she came up. Cain was 4-for-5 with three runs and three RBI. Coburn was 3-for-3 with two sacrifices.
Hawks struck out five in her three innings. Coffey retired all nine IR hitters she faced with no strikeouts, but with no batted balls leaving the infield. Only an error in the second inning kept the Lady Warriors from a perfect game.
Both Warrior teams travel to Great Bridge Friday afternoon.