BEAR — Nicki Shirey knew it was probably going come down to whichever team made the most timely plays and committed the fewest mistakes.

The Smyrna High coach also knew Caravel Academy would be coming in with plenty of motivation.

It came down to the last half-inning, but Leila Rocke’s walk-off RBI single to right field in the bottom of the seventh was just enough for Caravel to squeak away with the long-awaited 2-1 victory over Smyrna Tuesday night.

The win kept Caravel undefeated at 8-0 while handing the Eagles (4-1) their first loss of the season.

It also marks the program’s first win over the Eagles since the 2015 season, snapping a five-game losing streak. The last time the two teams faced each other ended with a 1-0 Smyrna win in the 2019 DIAA state championship.

“I knew it would be a low-scoring game,” Shirey said. “Caravel is going to be a tough team any time of the year. I knew it had been a long time since they had gotten a win against us, but it has always been a hard-fought game and so that’s what I was expecting tonight.”

Hits were tough to come by as the two offenses combined for just seven hits and 21 strikeouts.

Caravel senior Jessica Walter was responsible for 15 of those strikeouts in the win.

“She had a great day on the mound,” Shirey said of the opposing pitcher. “She finitely commanded her pitching. You don’t see pitchers call their own pitches very often and she was doing that ... so she knew what she had to do tonight, she was hitting her spots and keeping our batters off balance. She did her job for sure.”

Smyrna senior pitcher Payton Dixon struck out six batters and surrendered just three hits in her seven innings.

Taylor Lipkins collected a pair of hits for Smyrna’s offense.

Brooke Holdsworth belted a leadoff double off the right field wall in the second inning while Rocke’s winning single and sophomore shortstop Veronica Diomede accounted for the team’s other two hits.

Caravel struck first in the bottom of the first inning when Kendall Browne scored from third base on a passed ball.

It wasn’t until the top of the sixth inning that Smyrna scored, tying it up with a sacrifice fly from sophomore Meghan Shirey.

Walter struck out consecutive batters with the bases loaded to end the sixth inning and escape further damage.

Dixon retired the Bucs batters in order in the bottom of the sixth before Holdsworth reached on an error and came around to score the winning run in the bottom of the seventh.

Smyrna has Caravel on their schedule again for later this season, and hopes to see a different outcome when they meet May 12.

“Obviously, you don’t want to lose, but it’s kind of nice that we get to see them at home, and it’s toward the end of the season, when we see them again,” said Shirey. “So we’re excited to get back at it.”