Northside knew it was in a must-win situation going into Tuesday’s home softball game with Southside.

Lady Bear junior pitcher Sydney Green more than did her part in helping pick her team back up.


Green tossed a one-hit shutout and retired the side in order in five of the first six innings she pitched as Northside broke a four-game losing streak in 7A-Central play with a 3-0 win against the Mavericks.

“I just knew we had to come out and get this win, so we could get a place in (the 7A State Tournament) and we really needed a win after we hadn’t been doing so good during the season,” Green said. “And it’s Southside, our rivalry, so it’s a big win for us.

“(This win) puts us higher than where we were. Hopefully, it will give us our confidence back up and help us win some more.”

The Lady Bears and Mavericks have the same number of conference wins now. But Southside (2-4 in 7A-Central) is still a half-game up on the Lady Bears (2-5) in the 7A-Central because the Mavs have played one fewer game in the conference.

A loss by Northside on Tuesday, though, may have jeopardized its postseason chances. Winning, however, gives the Lady Bears new life entering the second half of conference play.

“We practiced pretty hard defense, working on the mistakes we had made last week,” Northside coach Kelly Nickell said. “Our base-running mistakes, we cleaned those up, we had excellent defense this time. ... I was very proud of them; they played from beginning to end.

“I was worried that their nerves might get a hold of them, but they were cool and calm and did their job.”


Green helped set the tone in the top of the first by retiring the side in order, ending the inning by spearing a comebacker off the bat of Piper Morgan. Southside then got two runners on in the second with two out, but Green got a strikeout to escape the jam.
