YEATESVILLE — The defending Northside Easter tournament champions made a strong push for repeat title on Saturday as the hosting Panthers rolled to a 16-0 five-inning victory over Edenton behind Taonya Stanley’s no-hitter.
Stanley silenced the Aces’ lineup as she fanned 11 batters and walked only one in five innings of work.
“We came out and we played real well,” Northside coach Jack Beirne said. “Taonya Stanley got out on the mound and did a great job pitching.”
Northside will resume the tournament on Monday when it faces Farmville Central and if it can top the Jaguars it will move into the tourney title game where it will face South Creek.
On Saturday, Stanley’s teammates gave her plenty of support as Brittany Alligood went 2-4, Alex Cutler homered and Jordan Woolard smashed a double and a triple.
“I was happy to see the lineup do well, we were hitting even when we put the subs in,” Beirne said. “Everybody hit the ball and played well.”
Also hitting the ball well was South Creek, who scored a total of 31 runs and went a perfect 2-2 on Saturday beating Edenton 13-1 in five innings before going on to top Pamlico in an 18-13 slugfest. The Cougars double play puts them into Monday’s championship game.
“It was a great effort” South Creek coach Daniel Webb said. “It started with Edenton this morning and we came out hitting the ball right from the get-go.”
Lauren Ward and Lauren Sitterson each homered against Edenton, while Victoria VanNorwick went 2-2 and Kaitlyn Sitterson went 3-4.
Taylor Moore pitched all five innings for the Cougars and yielded three hits to get the win.
In the second game, the Cougars were able to knock off last year’s NCHSAA 1-A state runners thanks to a balanced attack at the plate.
Taylor Johnson led the assault as she went 3-5 and crushed a mammoth over-the-fence home run and scored four times.
Krista Silverthorne added three hits for South Creek, while Lauren and Kaitlyn Sitterson had two hits apiece, as did Rena Mondragon and Cameron Mobley.
Farmville Central followed South Creek and topped Columbia 16-0, while Pamlico topped off the festivities with a 14-4 victory over Edenton.