Thursday’s rivalry matchup between Washington and Northside saw one team’s undefeated start come to an end and another snap a two-game skid to even its record.

Washington used a four-run fourth inning to stomp past the Lady Panthers, which had opened the season with wins in each of their first three games. Six different Lady Pack batters had a hit. Mary B. Dixon and Jordan Pierce had multiple.

Defensively, freshman Abbigail Tucker pitched a complete-game shutout. Northside was only able to scrape together two hits off of her. Tucker issued no walks and struck out nine.

The game was Northside’s first big test of the season. It’s a valuable teaching moment for the Lady Panthers that, despite losing some key pieces from last year’s successful squad, hope to drive deep into the playoffs again. Coach Gil Robbins knew going into the season that the players that graduated from last year’s team took with them most of the squad’s power at the plate.

To work around that, Robbins is focusing on the team’s strengths and taking a smaller approach to the offense. The barebones objective is to get on base, use speed to work into scoring position, and use small-ball techniques to bring runs across.

Thursday marked the first time Northside wasn’t able to hit at will. In three games against Columbia and South Creek, the Lady Panthers lit their opposition up for 39 runs. They had yet to need to test that smaller, oftentimes more complex approach during live action.

On the defensive end, Rachel Lang gave up eight hits, but was only charged for two of the six runs Northside conceded. The defense behind her committed five errors. It’s early in the season and the talent of the opponent took a massive jump from South Creek to Washington, so there’s no reason to think that aspect of the game won’t come along sooner rather than later.

For Washington, Thursday’s game was a step back in the right direction. While things got out of hand against a 4-A club in Conley, the Lady Pack had let a two-run contest against Riverside slip by. There’s a talented crop of players returning — and, in Tucker’s case, debuting — so splitting the first four games of the season against strong opponents is a quality start.

The tough schedule continues as Washington finishes up its home-and-home series with Northern Nash and Riverside, and will also host a powerhouse in South Central before opening 2-A Eastern Plains Conference competition March 21 at Farmville Central.

In the end, the experience differential favored Washington. With so many returning players and an all-star freshman pitcher to take some of the load off of senior Hailey Harris, the Lady Pack has a lot figured out early in the season.

Northside, on the other hand, still has some questions to answer as it enters 1-A Coastal Plains Conference play. Even so, the Lady Panthers should feel great about where they are at this point in their campaign.

Too bad a rematch between two Beaufort County powerhouses doesn’t seem to be in the cards.