PINETOWN — Northside rallied a few times Friday evening to rout Pamlico County. The Panthers found themselves down 4-0 early on, but got their bats going to win 20-10 in six innings.

The difference was a nine-run fifth inning for the Panthers. Tanner Alligood and Parker Boyd were both walked to begin the frame, which forced a pitching change from the visitors. They moved into scoring position on a passed ball.

Northside loaded the bases with no outs after Reg Bishop, too, was walked. All three scored on consecutive RBI singles by Zach Woolard, Nick Crisp and Matthew Marslender.

The Panthers had no intentions of slowing down. They exploited a pair of fielding errors and used additional RBI singles from Brock Marsh and Alligood, as well as some aggressive base running, to take a 17-10 lead.

“Once we made it 11-10 (in the fifth), you could just see us ease up a bit,” coach Keith Boyd said. “We looked out there at the plate, we had bases loaded with no outs.

“We just relaxed. Those guys getting on base took the pressure off the other guys. When the pressure is off, hitting can become contagious.”

Lefty senior Zach Woolard took over pitching duties in the top of the sixth. The visiting Hurricanes had scored runs in each of the prior innings. Woolard fanned two batters and Marslender threw out Tristan Nethercutt as he attempted to steal second.

That opened the door for Northside to score thrice in the bottom of the frame, calling for the 10-run mercy rule.

“The key goes back to the three games previous,” Boyd said. “Playing Washington, playing Ayden-Grifton, playing East Carteret … we faced good pitching. We battled through it. We didn’t hit well at all, but I thought, by seeing it … We’re starting to believe in ourselves a bit.”

Pamlico County made it easy, too. Pitches hit both of Northside’s leadoff batters. With two outs, both moved into scoring position thanks to a passed ball. Alligood cranked a single to right field to plate Marslender and Sauls. He later scored on an error at second base to end the game.

Things started rough for the home side. Woolard, the sophomore righty who started on the mound, induced consecutive fly outs to the outfield before the Hurricanes were able to score a pair of two-out runs.

Nolan Hawkins was walked and Nethercutt followed up with a single to third base. Hawkins scored on a throwing error. Nethercutt moved to third base on a passed ball and scored on a single down the left-field line.

After retiring the Panthers in order in the bottom of the inning, the Hurricanes added two more runs. Justin Spruill and Lucas McPherson led off with back-to-back singles and scored on passed balls, giving the visitors a 4-0 advantage early on.

Northside wasn’t deterred and bounced back with its best offensive showing to date. The win evens the Panthers’ 1-A Coastal Plains Conference record at 1-1.