PINETOWN — Northside experienced a three-game losing streak as the regular season wound down, but bounced back with a pair of wins. The most recent came Friday and in dominant fashion when the Lady Panthers railroaded Lejeune, 16-0, in five innings.

The game marked the last regular-season home game for Mariah Stanley, Kendall Alligood, Quortasia Clark and Mackensi Swain. They’ll travel to Southside on Thursday with the rest of the squad for a season-finale clash with their rival Lady Seahawks.

Senior night got off to a hot start when the Lady Panthers went through the entire batting order in the first inning without getting a single out. They quickly retired the visiting Lady Devil Pups, thanks to a double play, before exploding for a dozen runs in the bottom half of the stanza.

Northside collected nine hits, drew a walk and had a pair of batters hit in the inning. Rachel Lang opened the scoring when she doubled to the centerfield fence to plate Swain from first base. Alligood, Rebekah Williams, Kaitlyn Spain, Stanley and Swain all batted in runs, too. Alligood had an early highlight when she hit a bomb over the fence in center to score herself and Lang.

“It’s great. I think our bats opened up a little bit,” coach Riley Youmans said. “Hopefully that’s going to give us confidence going into Southside and the playoffs. That’s what we need. Our bats have been struggling lately, so hopefully that’s the end of it.”

Alligood led the charge defensively. She conceded her usual spot behind the plate to pitch for her senior night. She helped the Lady Panthers get out of a jam in the second. Lejeune’s first two batters both reached. Alligood tagged out a runner at home before inducing a pop up to first and catching a batter looking.

“Kendall is a great pitcher. She’s pitched in several games for us and she pitched when she was younger,” Youmans said. “It’s senior night and it’s the last game on this field unless we have a home playoff game, so I just wanted to make it fun for the seniors. That’s what it was all about.”

Northside tacked on four more runs in the bottom of the second to arrive at the 16-0 final. Alligood fanned three in the third inning, retired the side in order in the fourth, and fanned three more in the fifth.

As the game got out of hand, Youmans was able to give plenty of reserve players some in-game experience. Not only will that come in handy should something happen to a starter in the postseason, but it’s also a nice reward for the hard work they put in during practice.

“It’s always good to let everybody play. These girls have been great sitting and cheering on the older players,” he said. “Giving them a chance to play, they deserve it. They’ve been there throughout the whole season. … Anytime you can take advantage of that, it’s a great thing to do.”