YEATESVILLE — Riverside got off to a fast start at the fifth annual Northside Easter Tournament as it topped Mattamuskeet 6-2 before it edged past Southside 4-2 on Friday.

The back-to-back wins vaults the Knights (16-4) into the championship game of the tournament where they will face Northeastern today at 7 p.m.

Jordan Rogers led the Knights to their first win of the day as he struck out five batters and let up two hits in seven innings. Cameron Price paced the offensive attack as he went 3-4.

In the team’s second game, Lucas Groover took the mound against fellow Four Rivers Conference foe Southside and held the Seahawks to four hits to pick up a win in his first start of the season for Riverside.

“We came over here wanted to get Jordan Rogers and Lucas some innings on the mound. I had no idea both of them would go the distance,” Riverside coach Hank Tice said. “This is Lucas’ first innings this year and I thought his velocity was outstanding … Shame on me (for not pitching him sooner). I’m a terrible coach.”

The Seahawks (3-11) jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the first inning when Blake Jones led off with a single and scored when Riverside committed an error on a ball hit by Julian Brown.

They would add another run when Brown crossed home on a Terrill Moore ground out.

Riverside responded the next inning by rallying for three runs. Christian Leggett reached base on a Seahawks’ error and crossed home plate on a Mathew Perry double. Groover followed up with an RBI triple and  came home on a Luke Mathews RBI single.

“Southside jumped up on us 2-0 and got some hits and put some runs on the board but we responded,” Tice said. “We got three in the bottom half of the inning and it was good to see us answer. We finished and played good defense.”

After that, a pitchers’ duel ensued as Groover and Southside starter Blake Jones breezed through the rest of the game. Jones would allow one more run in the third inning when Leggett tripled and was plated by Perry.

Overall, Southside coach Jeff Carrow was pleased with his team’s effort.

“I thought we played well. Defensively we were solid,” Carrow said. “We got a solid pitching performance from Blake Jones. The difference in the ball game was that they got a couple of quality hits at key times and we just couldn’t answer that.”

Carrow said the key to Jones’ performance was his ability to overcome a slow start.

“He was struggling early to locate his curveball but he found it later in the game and got hitters to swing early and pop out,” Carrow said. “He did a good job of getting ahead on counts and popping out. That’s exactly what we want him to do.”

Southside will resume tourney action today when they face Northside at 1 p.m. The Panthers fell 9-1 to Northeastern to break their seven-game winning streak. Dillon Cutler blasted a solo home run to give the team its lone run.

The Northside softball team won its first two games of the tournament to propel itself into the championship game which will be held today at 5:30 p.m.  where it will face Pamlico.

The Panthers topped Edenton 13-7 in Game 1, then slid past South Creek 6-1 in Game 2. Jordan Woolard was the winning pitcher in the first game, while Lillyann Arnold picked up the win in the second game.

Southside 200 000 0 č 2 2 1

Riverside 301 000 X č 4 6 2

WP: Lucas Groover; LP: Blake Jones

Hitting: SS č Blake Jones 2-4 (R), Jody Harding 2-4; RS č Caleb Whitley 2-3, Christian Leggett 1-3 (R), Mathew Perry 1-3 (2 RBI, 2B), Lucas Groover (RBI, 3B), Luke Mathews (RBI).

NORTHSIDE EASTER TOURNAMENT RESULTS

SOFTBALL:

Game 1: Northside 13, Edenton 7

Game 2: Northside 6, South Creek 1

Game 3: Pamlico 12, Manteo 0

Game 4: South Creek 2, Edenton 1

Game 5: Farmville beat Manteo

Game 6: Pamlico beat Farmville

SATURDAY:

Game 7:

2:30 p.m. ą Manteo vs Edenton

Game 8:

4 p.m. ą South Creek vs Farmville

Game 9:

5:30 p.m. ą Pamlico vs Northside

BASEBALL

Game 1: Riverside 6, Mattamuskeet 2

Game 2: Riverside 4, Southside 2

Game 3: Northeastern 9, Northside 1

SATURDAY

Game 4:

1 p.m. ą Southside vs Northside

Game 5

4 p.m. ą Game 4 winner vs Mattamuskeet

Game 6

7 p.m. ą Riverside vs Northeastern