Southside coach John Lohman knew it would come down to hitting and on Tuesday his Seahawks once again could not find a way to put runs on the board versus South Creek as they fell 2-0 in the fourth round of the NCHSAA 1-A state playoffs.
Cougars’ ace Lauren Sitterson was masterful as she shut out a strong Southside lineup for seven innings and yielded only three hits to the No. 1 Seahawks (18-4) to guide third-seeded South Creek (21-4) into the East Regional round of the playoffs for the first time in the school’s three-year history.
“Lauren Sitterson pitched an outstanding game and our defense played lights out,” South Creek coach Patrick Herring said. “It was our first (playoff) game with no errors. When you’re pitching’s on and your defense plays with no errors that’s a good recipe right there.”
That’s a recipe Southside has tasted a lot this season as it lost all three of it’s matchups with South Creek and scored only one run versus the Cougars in 21 innings this year.
“Lauren pitched a great game,” Lohman said. “Her stuff rises just a little bit naturally. It was hard to get on top of the ball and drive it somewhere. We fouled a bunch off and when she did have to bring it down into the strike zone and we hit it hard, it just went right to somebody.”
Southside, who played a flawless third round game against co-Four Rivers Conference champions Northside to advance, struggled on defense and committed six errors in the loss.
“It’s the old saying: errors are contagious,” Lohman said. “We got one error and then I think they were playing a little too careful and trying not to make errors, but we were able to get out of a lot of jams.”
Despite the many miscues, the Cougars only capitalized on one in the fourth as Sitterson smashed a double off Savannah Mumford and advanced to third on an error before scoring on another one to put South Creek up 1-0.
Mumford would pitch all seven innings and allowed one earned run in the loss when South Creek’s Kim Mobley smashed an inside-the-park home run in the sixth.
Overall, it was a stellar season for Southside, who worked its way into a share of the Four Rivers Conference championship on the final day of the regular season before advancing all the way to the fourth round of the playoffs for the second time in four years under the leadership of seniors Mumford, Sparks, Marlin Edwards and Macy Paramore.
“It was still a great season,” Lohman said. “To win our conference is an accomplishment. It’s almost as good as winning a state championship because our conference is tough. South Creek is a great team and played great defense. Every girl in their lineup is good. They will be a great representative for our conference.”

South Creek    000    101    0    —    2    3    0
Southside    000    000    0    —    0    3    6
WP: Lauren Sitterson; LP: Savannah Mumford
Hitting: SC — Reina Mondragon 1-4, Lauren Sitterson 1-4 (1R), Kim Mobley 1-4 (HR, R, RBI); SS — Savannah Mumford 1-3, Sondra Sparks 1-3, Marlin Edwards 1-3.