Taylor Utz, Megan Mcgee and Addie Scipper combined on a no-hitter as the Batesville 10U All-Star softball team opened up North State tournament play Thursday afternoon at J.P.Hudson Park.

That was the good news.

The bad news was the trio issued 16 walks as Hernando eased past the host team 8-2, thus knocking Batesville into a losers’ bracket contest late Friday night against Water Valley. Hernando starting pitcher Vivian Stringfellow kept the Batesville hitters in check for most of the night by striking out 12 while surrendering two hits.

Taylor Barton got Batesville off to a positive start in the first inning by reaching on a walk then later scoring on a wild pitch for a 1-0 lead. Barton also  accounted for one of the two hits on the night with a fourth inning triple. Hailey Rikard registered Batesville’s other run as her single to open up the bottom of the third skipped past the right fielder and rolled all the way to the fence that allowed Rikard to circle the bases to tie the game at 2-2.

Hernando took the lead for good in the bottom half of the frame by plating two runs then added three more the following inning for a 7-2 lead.

In Friday’s 15-10 loss to Water Valley, Barton once again got Batesville on the board by leading off the game with a single then  scoring on Rikard’s RBI single. Water Valley responded with six runs in the bottom half of the inning and tacked on four more runs in the second to take a commanding 10-2 lead.

Batesville would not lay down however as it scratched and clawed their way back into the game by scoring a pair of runs in the third and then putting up six runs in the fourth to tie the game at 10-10.

   Scipper got the rally started with a two-run single in the third that drove in Barton and Rikard to make the score 10-4. Madison Morgan and McGee led off the fourth back-to-back singles to start the rally. After a groundout and a Ciera Presley walk, Karrah Hudson and Barton delivered consecutive singles to close the Water Valley lead to 10-8. Two batters later, Sidney Hays  knotted the score with a two-run triple down the first base line to score Barton and Utz.

  Whatever momentum Batesville had was quickly extinguished in the following inning as Water Valley put five runs on the board for the final margin of victory.

  Batesville then closed out the tournament with a 9-3 loss to Pontotoc National.