CHOCOWINITY — Down by one in the bottom of the fifth, Southside came up with a season-saving rally as Savannah Mumford and Tia Hardy crushed a pair of two-run inside-the-park home runs to lead the Seahawks to a 6-3 victory over Camden in the second round of the NCHSAA 1-A state playoffs on Tuesday.
The win was a captivating one and sets up what promises to be a great third round matchup with archrival Northside on Friday at 6 p.m.
“We’re very excited,” Southside coach John Lohman said. “Last year we got beat in the second round by Riverside. We came into this knowing Camden was good and we wanted to come out and play our best and we did.”
The No. 1-seeded Seahawks (17-3, Four Rivers) scored in the first against the No. 4-seeded Bruins (12-7, Four Rivers) as Sondra Sparks reached third with two outs and crossed home when Camden failed to handle a Marlin Edwards base hit.
Southside tacked on another run with two outs in the fourth when Edwards scored on a Macy Paramore single.
Southside pitcher Savannah Mumford held the Bruins scoreless for four straight innings but that streak ended in the fifth when the Bruins rallied for three runs to take a 3-2 lead.
That lead would be short lived as Southside got a runner on to start the fifth before Mumford hit a shot deep to left field that escaped the Camden outfield for an inside-the-park home run.
“It was just a big time hit,” Lohman said. “We were a little concerned that she might get plunked because we’ve faced team this team a few times and in key situations girls have got hit before … but she took the first pitch and just smoked it.”
The Seahawks added two insurance runs a few batters later as Hardy belted a 1-2 pitch to right field that got under the fielders glove and rolled to the fence allowing for an inside-the-park home run and a 6-3 lead.
Overall, it was a good outing for the Seahawks’ lineup as they produced 11 hits and got two-hit performances by Mumford, Sparks, Edwards and Paramore.

Camden    000    030    0    —    3    7
Southside    100    140    X    —    6    11
WP: Savannah Mumford
Hitting: S — Savannah Mumford 2-4 (HR, 2 RBI), Sondra Sparks 2-4, Marlin Edwards 2-3 (RBI), Tia Hardy 1-3 (HR, 2 RBI), Macy Paramore 2-3 (RBI), Dejea Reddick 1-3, Samantha Lore 1-3.