Northeast Takes Down Chesapeake with Clutch Hitting

The Eagles, led by a dominating hitting performance from freshman Ashley Prince, defeated the Cougars 8-6 Friday afternoon on the road.

Despite leading 4-0 after the top of the fourth, the Eagles needed a seventh inning comeback led by Prince to seal the victory.

Prince came up to bat in the top of the seventh with one out and the Eagles trailing 6-5. She hit a shot to right field resulting in a triple. The next batter for Northeast, Brooke Steinbach, popped up to the edge of the infield grass, but the ball was dropped by the second baseman, allowing Price to score and tie the game.

Northeast got the go-ahead run two batters later when Steinbach scored on a single to left field, giving the Eagles the lead 7-6.

“I was just trying to put it in play,” Prince said. “I was trying to get on base and get some runs so we could beat them. And it is just awesome; I’m really excited.”

Prince also homered in the fifth inning, and went 2-4 on the night with an RBI.

“[Prince] is just hitting the ball hard for a freshman,” said Northeast coach Joe Hart. “She is going to have some good years here. She is going to set some records. Every swing she takes is just hard. She isn’t one of those kids to swat at it; she is going to crush it. She is a good ball player.”

Despite Chesapeake’s comeback in the bottom of the fourth inning, where they scored five of their total six runs, they couldn’t muster a seventh inning rally.

“You have to give Northeast credit—they came out and took it to us right away,” said Chesapeake coach Don Ellenberger. “We kept battling back and forth, but they pulled it off in the end. We will keep working in practice and see where we go from there.”