By By BRIAN HAINES, Sports Writer
YEATESVILLE — For the second day in a row the Pam Pack put forth a balanced, team effort and for the second straight day Washington picked up a win.
After beating Southside in the first round of the Northside Easter Tournament on Friday, the Pam Pack topped the hosting Panthers 12-4 on Saturday to take on the tourney title.
Mattamuskeet beat Southside 10-7 to place third in the tournament.
Pitcher Michael Robinson no-hit Northside through the first five innings en route to the win, while Jimmy Hardison had a sensational night going 5-5 with a triple, three doubles and five RBIs to pace the Pack (5-8).
“I’m very excited (to win the tournament) and I know the guys are too,” Washington coach Travis Rogerson said. “We still have a lot of work to do, but I want this to be a momentum-builder. I expect the guys to enjoy the tournament victory and come ready to work on Monday.”
Robinson put in plenty of work on Saturday as he struck out nine batters in seven innings while letting up seven hits and issuing two walks.
Robinson did a nice job locating his pitches and at times had an untouchable hook.
“Michael Robinson pitched great tonight, he had nine Ks and you can’t really ask for much more than that,” Rogerson said.
Robinson looked sharp until the last inning when Northside rallied to pick up three of its four runs, but the Pack pitcher was to avert a disaster and lock down a win.
Washington slowly built up its lead against Northside, scoring one run in the first and third, three in the fifth and one in the sixth before blowing it open in the final inning where it rallied for seven.
Hardison mashed pitches from the opening inning until the last, scoring a run or driving in one in each at bat.
Hardison, the Pack’s No. 2 hitter, along with leadoff hitter Jake Duke (1-2 3 runs) did a tremendous job of creating havoc on the base paths and in the batter’s box and set the table for Washington.
“That was a great 1-2 punch tonight,” Rogerson said. “But the thing about scoring 12 runs in game is that it is a team hitting well. I’m proud of the guys as a whole.”
The Panthers got a nice pitching performance from starter Brandon Marsh who let up four runs in 4 1/3 innings in the loss, and were paced at the plate by Josh Miller who was 2-3.
The Panthers (4-10) were able to keep the contest close for most of the game, but could not string together a rally until it was too late.
“We thought it would be big to stay in this game early and we accomplished that,” Northside coach Keith Boyd said. “We had a couple of times midway through the game when it was 5-1 when we got men on base but we just never got that hit.”
The Panthers will be back in action on Tuesday when they battle Southside, while the Pam Pack will be back on the diamond the same day at home against West Carteret.
Washington 101 031 7 12 10 2
Northside 000 010 3 4 7 1
WP: Michael Robinson; LP: Brandon Marsh
W — Jake Duke 1-2 (3R), Jimmy Hardison 5-5 (3B, 3 2B, 5 RBI), Gator Moore 1-4, Michael Robinson 1-3, Gage Tyson 1-3, Austin Mitchell 1-3; N — Taylor Woolard 1-4 (RBI), Justin Boyd 1-4 (RBI), Tyler Woolard 1-4, Tyler Waters 1-3, Josh Miller 2-3.