The Airline Lady Vikings and Parkway Lady Panthers posted District 1-5A softball victories on Tuesday.
Airline downed Southwood 10-0 in five innings at Airline, and Parkway knocked off Byrd 13-8 at Byrd. In the other 1-5A game, Evangel Christian defeated Haughton 10-0 in five innings at Evangel.
Airline (15-6, 8-1) leads Evangel (16-4, 7-1) by a half-game. Haughton (12-13, 6-3) fell two games behind Airline.
In District 1-4A, the Benton Lady Tigers hung with two-time defending state champion North DeSoto for five innings, but the Lady Griffins broke open the game with five runs in the sixth en route to a 9-2 victory at Benton.
North DeSoto (20-3, 6-0) wrapped up play in its division of 1-4A. Benton dropped to 10-12 and 2-2.
At Airline, Hannah Hutson tossed a five-inning no-hitter and also had three hits, including two doubles, for the Lady Vikings.
Freshman Caroline Easom went 2-for-3 with a triple and an RBI. Jessica Baffuto and Jessica Grubbs had two hits each.
Lexi Gray smacked a three-run homer in Airline’s nine-run third inning.
Southwood dropped to 14-8 and 3-6.
At Byrd, Parkway got off to a slow start but made up for it in the final four innings, scoring four in the fourth, two in the fifth and sixth, and three in the seventh.
Faith Ingles went 3-for-5. Madelyn Elliott had two doubles and three RBI. Pitcher Abbie Norcross had two hits, including a double, and two RBI.
Allie Hunt gave the Lady Panthers a 6-3 lead with a two-run triple in the fourth. Lauren Jones also had two RBI.
Parkway, which snapped a nine-game losing streak, improved to 9-11 and 3-6. Byrd dropped to 4-21 and 0-11.
At Benton, the Lady Tigers trailed North DeSoto 2-0 after three but scored two in the bottom of the fourth to tie it.
Abby Kent got things started with a one-out single and advanced to third on Taylor Jones’ double. Anna Claire Kratzer singled home Kent. Freshman pitcher Kayla Vo’s single with two outs made it 2-2.
After giving up a leadoff home run to two-time All-State pitcher E.C. Delafield, Vo pitched a solid first five innings, allowing five hits. She was relieved with two outs in the sixth.
Louisiana Tech signee Bayli Simon gave North DeSoto a 4-2 lead with a two-RBI double in the fifth. The Lady Griffins then added five in the sixth.
North DeSoto loaded the bases with no outs on two walks and a hit batter. Simon hit a two-out, two-RBI double. The Lady Griffins also got a two-out RBI triple from Bailey McMillian.
Saintignan and Kent both finished with two hits.
At Evangel, Lacey Dodson had the only hit, a double, for the Lady Bucs against Evangel ace Emily Deramus.
Evangel’s Tally Turnbow had three doubles.
NOTE: The above report is based on information on teams’ official GameChanger accounts.
— Russell Hedges, rhedges@bossierpress.com
