BEULAVILLE — Perfect nights at the plate from Jada Lodge and Sarah Lynch fueled an offensive explosion in Washington’s 17-5 win over East Duplin in the third round of the 2-A state championship playoffs.

Lodge went 5-for-5 with two runs and an RBI. Lynch was 4-for-4 on the evening with five runs scored and another two batted in. As a team, the Lady Pack had 20 hits. The girls scored four runs in the second, third and sixth innings en route to their dominant win.

East Duplin scored the game’s first run in the bottom of the first. Kari Westerbeek knocked a ball into right field to score Anna Craft from second base. Lady Pack pitcher Hailey Harris bounced right back by fanning two Lady Panthers in succession to get out of the inning.

Head coach Doug Whitehead’s message to the team was clear. He wanted them to go out and win each inning. That’s exactly what the girls did.

It started with a four-run effort in the top of the second. Seven straight Washington batters reached base after Meghan Moore led off by striking out. Lynch pushed across Lodge for the tying run with an infield single. Style McKissick batted in two more with a base hit that dropped in the shallow outfield to score Mary B. Dixon and Haley Witham. Harris plated the inning’s final run with a single to shortstop that brought in Lynch.

“We’re used to facing good pitchers and we faced one tonight,” Whitehead said. “In girls softball, I have discovered over the years, hitting is contagious. Runs are contagious, hitting is contagious and we scored in practically every inning.

“… I told them it looked like she was throwing the first pitch right down the plate. I said, ‘girls, we’ve got to jump on it.’ We did that. They were swinging at good pitches. When we had bad pitches, they were fighting them off. This is just one of those nights for Pam Pack softball. A bunch of girls were hitting the ball. Just wow.”

Harris struck out two more in the bottom of the second to help retire the Lady Panthers in order. Five more hits and a pair of errors in the top of the third gave Washington four more runs. Lodge, Dixon, Lynch each had an RBI in the inning.

With runners on the corners, Washington was able to play a game of monkey in the middle to push its lead to 8-1 early on. McKissick drew a pickoff attempt trying to steal third base, allowing Lynch to steal home.

Westerbeek drilled a three-run homer over the centerfield fence to cut the Lady Panthers’ deficit to 8-4, but the Lady Pack still outscored them in the third.

“Yes, the three-run homer hurt, but, guess what? We won that inning,” Whitehead said. “We scored four that inning. We won every inning except for the first. … These girls had a lot of confidence. There was a lot of cheering in the dugout. It’s just a special night.”

Washington scored once in the fourth and led off with consecutive singles, forcing Westerbeek out of her pitching duties for the evening. The Lady Pack scored another on Jansen Sholar to push its lead to 10-4.

Washington put the game further out of reach in the sixth. Witham, Lynch and McKissick drew three straight one-out walks. Chrissy McKissick notched two of her four RBI in the game with a shot to centerfield that was mere inches of clearing the fence.

The Lady Pack hopes to carry this massive offensive momentum into Friday’s fourth-round game at top-seeded Jordan-Matthews. The Lady Jets have lost just one game this season and are fresh off a 12-3 win over North Johnston. Washington split its two 2-A Eastern Plains Conference games with North Johnston this season.