PINETOWN — For three-straight innings, Jones Senior was able to retire the first two Northside batters to step up to the plate. Some two-out work from the Lady Panthers yielded five runs in the bottom of the second, and they never looked back in a 10-0 win.

The Lady Panthers left the bases loaded in the bottom of the first. It didn’t look they’d muster much in the second until Brooklyn Hudnell and Rylie Newman drew back-to-back two-out walks. Northside got on the board first when Jones Senior tried to catch Newman stealing second, and an error on the play gave Hudnell an opening to score.

Savannah Slade plated Newman on an RBI double to left field. Rachel Lang and Kaitlyn Spain drew consecutive walks to load the bases. Tiffany Oliver reached on a throwing error that allowed Slade to score the third run of the frame. The Lady Panthers walked in another run before Spain made it 5-0 by capitalizing on a passed ball.

“It was good to see us not give up on those, but still, there were positions there where we needed to be picking up runs,” Northside coach Gil Robbins said. “I think our girls understood that.”

Lady Trojans coach Jody Turner added, “The girls got relaxed. They lost focus. Our pitcher had a blister developing on her finger, and that started bothering her a little bit, but it’s mostly that they started getting relaxed. If you’re too complacent, that’s what happens.”

Jones Senior got a double to left-centerfield in the opening stanza, but couldn’t get a runner on in the next five innings. Rebekah Williams collected six strikeouts in five innings of work, and the infield defense — namely Slade, who threw out three Lady Trojans between the fourth and fifth innings — was stout.

“We’ve had a lot of games when we put zero errors up. Frankly, when it comes tournament time, no errors is how you play tournament ball,” Robbins said. “The first one to make a mistake when you’re deep in the tournament is going to end up losing that game. If we can keep minimizing errors, we’ll be in good shape.”

Lang relieved Williams in the sixth. She fanned all three batters she faced.

“There are some heavers out there on other teams, as well,” Robbins said. “They can give us a go. We’ve got more than one arm we can go to if someone is struggling. We haven’t seen a whole lot of that this year.”

Jones Senior starting pitcher Timberly Bogus had to leave the game after the fifth. The Lady Trojans cycled through two pitchers in the sixth inning, but neither could maintain command as they walked in the three runs Northside needed to reach the 10-run mercy rule.

The bounce-back win after a 10-run loss to East Carteret was important for Northside. It marked the midway point of a stretch that will see the Lady Panthers play four of five on the road. They’ll travel to Bear Grass then Columbia next week.