By Brad Greer

If winning a district championship is not tough enough, going undefeated in it is even a bigger accomplishment. The North Delta School baseball team capped off a perfect district season Thursday afternoon with a 10-2 win over Delta Academy in the last regular season home game.

This was the first district championship since 1991.

With the victory, the Green Wave improved to 11-3 and 10-0 in District 1-1A play and will host a first-round playoff game next week against an opponent yet to be determined. Delta meanwhile fell to 6-3 and 9-5 overall. The Raiders played Tunica Friday to settle the runner-up spot.

Bateman Greenlee, one of three seniors honored before the game, blasted a pair of homeruns and drove in five RBIs (runs batted in) to lead the Wave offensively. Michael Magee added three singles and scored three runs while Jim Tom Copeland, Ethan Taylor and Austin Gant had two hits each in a 12-hit attack.

Taylor also picked up the win on the mound as the sophomore went 4.2 innings to improve to 4-2 on the season. Geri Lamm pitched two innings in relief while senior Britt Lawrence recorded the final out by fanning Austin Jones in the top of the seventh.

Greenlee’s first dinger, a two-run opposite-field blast in the first inning off Delta starting pitcher Justis Kowalski, gave the Wave a 3-0 lead. Two innings later, Greenlee blasted another two-run shot off of Kowalski over the left field fence to make the score 5-0.

“It feels really good to win district, especially with this being my senior year and just missing out on the playoffs in football. This is a tough district we are in, but I knew if we played ball like we’re capable of we could go undefeated,” said Greenlee, who added his last RBI in the sixth on a sacifice fly.

After Delta scratched across a run in the fifth to make it 5-1, North Delta responded with four runs on four hits for a 9-1 cushion. Copeland and Taylor led off the inning with singles followed by a Greenlee walk to load the bases. Gant then drove Copeland home with a single. One batter later, Hunter West delivered a RBI double to plate Taylor and Greenlee.

Delta added its last run in the top of the seventh off Lamm as Drew Schiele led off with a walk and later scored on Kowalski’s double.