After scoring 14 runs against Riverside on March 3, Washington knew it had the offense to hang with South Central on Tuesday. What was arguably more impressive than plating nine runs against the Lady Falcons was the early-season defensive turnaround the Lady Pack made in just the third game of the campaign.

Even in the win over Riverside, the girls conceded seven runs. Fast-forward to Tuesday and they go seven innings with surrendering just one to South Central, which is generally an offensive powerhouse.

“On defense, we had a few issues. We had a couple of dropped balls against Riverside,” coach Doug Whitehead said. “We play (South Central) every year. They’re always a strong club. They didn’t hit the ball like they generally hit. Historically, they hit the ball well. They didn’t hit the ball well. We can key that up to Hailey’s placement of the ball.”

It started with pitcher Hailey Harris. She faced five or fewer batters in all but one inning. She had 10 strikeouts in the exceptional outing, which was highlighted by her striking out the side in order in the top of the second.

“Hailey, in the circle, helped herself by not walking batters,” Whitehead said. “That’s a key thing that’s been bad for her. … She’s getting ahead of the batters, staying ahead of the batters. It helps her confidence. Once she gets some runs, her confidence goes through the roof.”

Harris’ ability to bounce back was admirable, too. Washington took the lead with a run in the second and pushed five more across in the following frame, posting a 6-0 advantage early on.

South Central seemed poised to dig itself out of that early ditch. Braelin Mizelle led off the top of the fourth with a solo homerun to left field. Harris, perhaps a tad shaken, went on to walk Lauren Conway.

Harris bounced back by fielding Anna Mewborn’s infield fly and then throwing out Mizelle before she touched up at first. After hitting Marissa Roach with a pitch, Harris fanned Taylor Burgess to end the inning.

Washington went on to retire the Lady Falcons in order in the fifth and sixth innings. Second baseman Meghan Horton caught a pair of fly balls in the fifth. In the next frame, Jada Lodge sprinted across left field to make an incredible play to catch Mizelle’s pop up in foul territory.

First baseman Style McKissick was consistent all evening, too. She was perfect on the receiving end of infield plays and made a great catch on a foul ball for the final out of the game.

The rest of the girls made the plays they needed to. The only error Washington committed was when Lodge fielded the ball in left field and didn’t get it in, which allotted South Central’s Madison Deanes an extra base following her single. It was a momentary lapse for a group that, otherwise, was sharp in the field all evening.

“We’ve worked a lot on defense,” Whitehead said. “In fact, we spent all day (Monday) on the corners working. We knew there were some slappers coming in. We haven’t had a great chance to work on hitting, so thank goodness they were doing it (Tuesday night).”