By Brad Greer

The North Delta fastpitch softball team got the 2011 season off to a successful start over the weekend by winning three of four games in the Magnolia Heights tournament.

The Lady Green Wave kicked off the tournament Friday with a pair of wins over Lee, (Ark.) 9-1 and Clarksdale Lee 10-2. North Delta, (3-1), dropped a tough 6-5 decision to Hebron Christian Saturday but rebounded with a 10-3 victory over Delta to earn the split.

Sophomore Grayson Sims pitched a five-inning complete game in the Lady Waves win over Lee, (Ark). Sims gave up two unearned runs on four hits while walking two and striking out three batters. The North Delta offense gave Sims plenty of run support by scoring three runs in the top of the first and five in the fourth to win going away.

Maribeth Johns gave the Wave a 1-0 lead in the first with a RBI single to score courtesy runner Hannah Heafner. Bradi Beard followed with a single to left to put runners on first and second with one out. Both runners scored two batters later on a two out error off the bat of Hastings Neal. Lee got on the board in the bottom half of the inning on a two-out error.

North Delta put the game away in the third by posting five runs on six hits. Johns and Beard led off the inning with a pair of singles before Snider fanned for the first out. Neal and Anna Lloyd followed with RBI singles to expand the lead to 5-1. Jordan Pullen kept the inning going with an infield single before Hannah Waldrip laid down a perfect bunt single to drive in Lloyd. Laci DuBravec finished out the scoring with a RBI groundout to plate Pullen to make the score 8-1.

The Wave added the last run in the fifth as Lloyd reached on an error and later came home on a Katherine Rich groundout. Johns and Beard registered half of North Delta’s eight hits in the game with two singles each.

In the second game of the day, Peyton Rico matched Sims’ pitching effort in the circle by tossing a four-inning complete game over Clarksdale Lee. North Delta scored in each of the four innings while collecting 10 hits in the game.

Lee scored its lone run in top of the first on an unearned run before the Green Wave answered with two runs on one hit in the bottom half of the frame.

North Delta scored four runs on three hits and two Lee errors to take a 6-1 lead. Snider’s lead off double along with singles by Neal and Beard highlighted the inning.

The Green Wave padded its lead to 9-1 one inning later on Courtney DuBravec’s two-run double. Myles Durham added the finishing touches to the game with an inside-the-park home run in bottom of the fourth.

Beard scored three runs on a pair of singles to lead North Delta at the plate. Laci DuBravec added two runs and a single while Neal and Lloyd chipped in with singles.

North Delta will return to action this weekend in the Kirk tournament.