CHOCOWINITY — Things were looking good for Southside at the halfway point of the season. The Seahawks went 2-1 in the Northside Easter Tournament, only dropping a one-run contest with Washington to miss a trip to the championship game. They came back from the spring-break layoff with a 6-4 win over Kinston to improve to 6-3 overall and pick up momentum heading into the thick of 1-A Coastal Plains Conference competition.

Then they lost their next five games in a row by a combined score of 44-14. Southside has met the conference’s top-five teams in that span, including a steamroller of a club in East Carteret. However, games against the likes of Northside and Pamlico County are opportunities to grind out a win to move up the standings.

Now it’s time to hit the restart button. There are winnable games ahead. The Seahawks get rematches with teams they’ve already beaten in Kinston and Columbia, respectively, in their next two outings. They also get to take on Pamlico County and Northside again. Both are in the middle of the league standings.

“Sometimes it seems like it just keeps building on,” coach Kevin McRoy said. “It’s one thing after another. You start hanging your head and you keep hanging it. It’s been a rough stretch for us over the last couple of weeks.

“If we possibly take a day off, you kind of get away from the game and forget about all the negative that has been happening. You forget about it, take a day and come back refocused. It’s always been a positive afterwards. You never know. You have to trust your players that they’re going to come back refocused and ready to play.”

Getting away from the game for a little bit could be exactly what the Seahawks need to reorient them toward their goals. A couple more wins between now and the end of the season could let them squeak their way into the playoffs.

For that to happen, though, there are things that need to happen on the offensive and defensive ends of the game. Errors in the field haven’t been overwhelming, but cutting down will surely help the Seahawks stay in games. On offense, they’ve struggled to string together hits throughout a game — especially with runners in scoring position.

One thing it comes down to is having fun and playing a looser game. It’s hard to stay positive in the midst of a losing streak, but it was that mentality that helped drive Southside’s success just a few short weeks ago.

“When they’re in game, good things happen. When we’re flat and not in the game, we’re waiting for someone else to make the play instead of us doing it,” McRoy said. “We need to be our own catalyst and we need to get things started ourselves.

“All year it’s been the same thing: if we’re in the game, we’re loud and we’re involved and paying attention to everything, we’re playing better. It’s when we take a step back and we’re just there, we don’t play as well.”

Southside will look to get back on track Friday at Lejeune. It’s a good opportunity to do so because the Devil Pups are still looking for their first win of the season.