It was one of the strangest — and more unfortunate — endings to a softball game Grafton Coach Vanessa Young has ever witnessed firsthand.
With the Clippers clinging to a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the seventh inning, a Nansemond River player laid down a bunt with a runner on first. Grafton’s Jessi Sprouse charged the ball down the third baseline and had a chance to get Nansemond River’s runner who rounded second and was heading to third.
Young said Sprouse’s throw seemed on target, but got by pitcher Kaylee Cox who was covering third. The ball rolled deep down the base line into the outfield, and by the time left fielder Christa Hall got to it, Nansemond River’s game-winning run had rounded third and was on her way home.
“Her bunt went a few feet and she ended up coming all the way around to score,” Young said. “You don’t see that every day.”
Grafton went ahead 3-0 in the top of the first, thanks partly to freshman Chelsea Evans’ two-RBI double.
Cox, who also went a perfect 3-3 at the plate, held Nansemond River scoreless through two innings before the Warriors began chipping away at their deficit to tie the game at 3-3 in the fifth.
Sprouse put the Clippers back on top 5-4 with a clutch RBI base hit in the top of the sixth. Cox got out of the sixth unscathed before the unfortunate miscue in the seventh abruptly ended the game as Nansemond River piled on top of the game-winning runner as she slid into home plate.
“Hopefully it’s a learning experience,” Young said.
