By Will Dickins
North Delta hosted Charleston for two games Saturday.  The Junior Varsity team won 9-2 and the Varsity team won 8-3.  
North Delta 8, Charleston 3
The game started with a strikeout on the mound for Hayden Hankins and a flyout to Tyler Holland in center field.  The next two batters got singles, but Hankins found another strikeout to keep the game scoreless to head in to the bottom of the first.  
North Delta found momentum in the inning after Bailey Ross hit a single with one out.  He made his way to third on a steal and errant throw from the catcher.  With runners at the corners after Ethan Calvert got hit by a pitch, Hunter Baker singled up the middle to bring Ross home.  Lige Simmerman then drilled a line drive down the right field line to bring in Calvert for another run.  Baker would score on an RBI from Hankins to end the scoring for the Green Wave.  
North Delta brought a 3-0 lead into the second and cruised through the top half of the inning. One runner got on base but was caught stealing second by Cole Devazier.  After a successful first inning hitting, the Green Wave went three up and three down in the second.
Charleston scratched one across in the third inning.  North Delta found themselves in another struggle at the plate as they could not get anyone on base for the second straight inning.  
Things got messy in the top of the fourth.  It started out with Hankins catching a ball in territory for an out.  He then made a diving play at third base and threw the runner out at first.  With a runner on second, the ball was hit to Hankins again. He knockedit down and dove to tag the runner where he appeared to have the third out.  The umpire called him safe, and the batter stole second to move two runners in scoring position. The next batter hit a two runs bringing in the tying run to end the inning 3-3.  Coach Haygood rallied his troops in the dugout to answer with three runs in the bottom half of the inning.  Ross brought a run in on a single with the bases loaded, Calvert had an RBI on a fielder’s choice, and Baker had another RBI on one more single.  
Luke Noah handled Charleston in the top of the fifth. North Delta added two insurance runs in the fifth inning and relied on the defense and the arm of Jones Montgomery to close out the game with the score of 8-3.  
The leaders at the plate were: Baker, two hits, two RBIs; Ross, two hits,one RBI; and Hankins, two hits, one RBI.  Other players who had hits were: Zack Dugger, Calvert, Simmerman, Holland, and Noah.  
Hankins started on the mound and ended the day with two innings pitched, three strikeouts, and no runs scored. Pitching in relief: Zack Adams, one inning, two strikeouts, and one run; Noah, two innings, one strikeout, and two runs; and Montgomery, two innings, four strikeouts, and no runs scored.
ND JV 9, Charleston 2
In the first of three and a half innings, Shawn Payne struck out three of the first four batters he faced to bring North Delta back into the dugout to swing the bats.  After three batters got on to load the bases, Luke Noah hit a single to centerfield to bring in Eli Robb for the first run.  Hunter Houston would then get two runs batted in on a single to right field.  One more run came in to finish the scoring for the inning when Nathan Walls added one more single to bring in Noah to close the inning winning 3-0.  
Charleston tried to answer, but Payne struck out three more batters to shut the door.  Caleb Tutor, Robb, and Ian Cole scored in the bottom of the second with Forrest Pierce getting two RBIs.
With the score 6-0, Charleston scored two runs in the third but could not hold the Green Wave off the board as they earned three more runs to bring the final score to 9-2.
The leaders at the plate were Robb with two hits; Pierce with one hit and two RBIs; and Houston with one hit and two RBIs.  Following them were: Cole Devazier, Noah (one RBI), Nathan Walls (one RBI), Payne (one RBI), Drake Barton, and Tutor with one hit each.
Pitching for the Green Wave were: Shawn Payne with six strikeouts and no earned runs, Ian Cole with one strikeout and two earned runs, and Drake Barton with no earned runs in the last inning.
North Delta will play Delta Academy at home tonight and Central Holmes at home Thursday beginning at 4 p.m.