New London edges Hillcrest Academy in SEISC bout

NEW LONDON — New London trailed Hillcrest Academy after two and a half innings on Friday afternoon, but the Tigers grabbed the lead in the bottom of the third and never lost it, edging the Ravens 7-6.

New London (4-17) and Hillcrest Academy (4-14) jumped out of the gates early. After the first, the Tigers and Ravens were tied at 1-1.

After a scoreless second inning, Hillcrest grabbed the lead in the top of the third, 2-1, but in the bottom half of the inning the Tigers took control.

The Tigers rattled off two runs with Morgan Jones and Ashlyn McSorley each drawing a walk. Jones scored the first run on a wild pitch before Olivia Hester delivered the second run of the inning with an RBI single to bring McSorley home.

Both teams went scoreless once again in the fourth, but New London had its biggest scoring inning on the horizon.

After holding the Ravens scoreless in the top half of the fifth, the Tigers brought three home in their half of the inning to make it 6-2.

“We’re starting to come together as a whole,” New London head coach Mark Chiri said. “We’re are a young team, but everyone is finding their own role.”

The Ravens didn’t go down without a fight though, as they brought it to within one, 6-5, with three runs of their own in sixth.

With four straight singles — which included a throwing error and RBI single — Hillcrest made it 6-4 with the first four at-bats. Lydia Beachy hit the RBI single and another Tiger error off an Malia Yoder hit made it 6-5.

In the bottom of the sixth McSorley and Hester connected again. After a McSorley single, Hester brought her home with her third RBI of the game to make 7-5.

The Ravens gave the Tigers a scare in the bottom of the seventh, cutting the lead to one, 7-6, but New London was able to hang on.

“It feels pretty good to win,” New London’s Megan Lee said. “Our team is starting to come together. Everyone is starting to learn and grow in their spots. It feels good.”

Hester had a great game in the box, tallying four hits and three RBIs. Elly Manning and Megan Lee each had two hits. McSorley and Kaitlyn Lee each finished with one hit. Kaitlyn Lee and Natalie Burden each had one RBI as well.

Megan Lee threw a complete game allowing six runs on three hits, seven walks and three strikeouts.

For Hillcrest Academy, Delaney Shaw led with a pair of hits. Esther Hughes, Grace Miller, Evelyn Gerber and Norah Yoder each finished with one hit. Hughes and Lydia Beachy each finished with an RBI.

Leah Bontrager took the loss in the circle, giving up seven runs on 10 hits, two walks and five strikeouts.

“We just couldn’t figure out how to hit it hard and in places that they weren’t” Hillcrest Academy head coach Kent Blossom said. “We gotta score runs to win games and we didn’t score enough to win.”