A frustrating first half of 6A-Central play for the Northside Lady Bears ended on a good note Tuesday.

The Lady Bears scored in five of their six innings at bat as Northside held off cross-town rival Southside, 10-7, at Grizzly Field.

Northside entered the game having lost three conference games by one run, all coming on the road. Needless to say, the Lady Bears (7-8, 2-4) faced a must-win situation on Tuesday in order to maintain their state tournament aspirations.

“We’re playing extremely good teams and we’re playing so close and there have been calls that could have gone either way that could have altered the game, but we’re just not finishing the game,” Northside coach Kelly Nickell said. “But I have been very proud of these girls because they’re playing tough teams and they’re playing some good softball.

“They really wanted this game and I know there’s a lot of nerves on both sides and I was very proud of my girls for bringing their emotions in, but they didn’t seem too nervous. ... Southside’s a good team, they’re a good hitting team, so I’m proud of my girls but hat’s off to (Southside), they played a good game.”

The Lady Bears raced out to a 5-0 lead in the third.

Southside (12-8, 2-5) came back in the top of the fourth, scoring four runs on a bases-loaded walk from Caitlyn Bagby followed by a bases-clearing double from Hana Dingman with one out.

But Northside sophomore pitcher Cailin Massey, who played at Southside as a freshman, was able to retire the next two batters to keep the Lady Bear lead intact.

The Lady Bears then scored a run in the bottom of the fourth and added four more in the sixth, highlighted by a three-run double from Jenna Wilson.


All 10 runs Northside had in Tuesday’s game came with two out.

“My girls like to do that for some reason. ... I really appreciate the fact that they don’t give up on any outs and this team’s got a lot of heart and we’re coming together,” Nickell said.

The Mavericks rallied in the top of the seventh as Madi Conklin doubled home two runs and Piper Morgan had an RBI single with two out. But Massey ended the game with a strikeout.

“I think for us, defensively we made way too many mistakes, we had way too many errors,” Southside coach Cassy Story said. “We have to clean things up defensively, but I was proud of our kids because they fought, they didn’t give up, they didn’t roll over so that’s good, so we’ve just got to clean it up on our side.

“We had a lot of opportunity in the first half (of 6A-Central play) and we feel like we’ve been playing a lot better. ... I think every game we’ve played so far, they were all winnable ballgames, so we’ve got to make sure we keep working hard and come out and play the second half.”

Five Lady Bears had two-hit games, with Danessa Teague, Aleigha Harrison and Chloe Ray each going 2-for-3.

Teague and Harrison also had two RBIs, with Teague recording an RBI single in the first and an RBI double in the fourth, while Harrison’s two-run single in the third gave Northside its 5-0 advantage.

Hannah Entrekin and Mairady Dempsey also went 2-for-4 for Northside, with Entrekin getting an RBI single in the second. Dempsey doubled and scored twice.

Massey, who also had an RBI double in the second, finished the game by allowing four hits and striking out five.


