Lady Panthers pounce on Rosewood

PINETOWN — After falling behind 2-1 in the first, Northside quickly erased Rosewood’s lead with a seven-run second inning. The Lady Panthers rode that out, scoring seven more runs — including five in the fifth — to win, 15-5, in five innings.

Power hitting led Northside past its first-round opponent and into a meeting with Princeton in the second round of the 1-A state playoffs. The team notched seven extra-base hits, including a home run by Emori Smith.

Savannah Slade, Rachel Lang and Brooklyn Hudnell were all perfect at the plate. The trio went a combined 9-for-9. Slade had a double and a triple as she scored four runs and batted in two more. Lang had two RBI and Hudnell scored twice.

Whitney Cromwell had a pair of doubles to chip in a team-best four RBI and score two runs. Kaitlyn Spain and Rylie Newman both had multiple hits, too.

Lang allowed six hits and issued no walks in her five innings of work. The visiting Lady Eagles used that and a pair of Northside errors to score their five runs (three earned).

Hitting is contagious. The entire lineup contributed, and the Lady Panthers will hope that remains the case Friday when they host Princeton for their second-round bout.

 

Griffin, Northside roll in first round

PINETOWN — Zack Griffin spun a gem, eight Northside players had a hit, and the Panthers rolled past North Duplin, 5-0, in the first round of the 1-A baseball playoffs on Wednesday.

Griffin pitched all seven innings. He scattered seven hits and a walk while striking out nine. The defense behind him played nearly perfect, too.

The Panthers endured a scoreless duel for three innings before breaking through with two runs in the bottom of the fourth. After locking down the Rebels for the fifth-straight inning, Northside pushed across three more runs to all but put the game out of reach.

Reg Bishop, who went 2-for-4 with a run, was the only Panther to collect multiple hits. Tanner Alligood and Grant Talbot had a run and an RBI apiece. Freshman Douglas Dixon had a team-high two RBI.

Northside hopes to keep the ball rolling when it hits the road for the first time this postseason. The Panthers head to Pender for their second-round matchup on Friday.

 

Southside bounced from playoffs

CREEDMOOR — Southside got seven hits and an error from the opposition, but the timely knock eluded the Seahawks in an 11-1, five-inning dismissal from the 1-A state baseball playoffs.

Grant Jensen and Brantley Cutler each had a pair of hits. Falls Lake pitchers Jacob Borden and Konen Pate — both underclassmen — managed to keep Southside at bay. Borden scattered five hits over four innings and issued just one walk. Pate gave up two hits in his one inning of relief. Neither conceded an earned run.

Meanwhile, Paul Radford threw 3 2/3 innings. He gave up five runs (two earned) on five hits and a walk. Cutler and Cody Modlin combined to pitch the remaining inning. Cutler let four runs come in on a hit and three walks while only producing two outs. Two unearned runs came in on Modlin’s watch.

Modlin scored Southside’s line run.

The Firebirds’ entire lineup consisted of underclassmen. Five of them had multiple hits on the evening.