By Will Dickins
North Delta hosted Lee Academy (Clarksdale) for district play Tuesday night. The varsity team won 9-6 for their first district win while junior varsity lost 7-1.   
ND 9, Lee Academy 6
Both teams came in to the game with zero wins in District play. Each was hungry for the first and much needed win if they wanted to keep their playoff hopes alive as only the top two teams in the district will advance.  With their backs against the wall, North Delta delivered with nine runs as it seemed that they could not be kept off the base paths.  They scored in all but the fifth inning.
Bailey Ross set the tone early in the first with the Green Wave being down 2-0.  He hit a leadoff double followed by Tyler Holland walking. Hunter Baker then hit a grounder to the pitcher to score Ross, and Hayden Hankins brought in Holland with a groundout to the shortstop.  This tied the game at 2-2.  
Hunter Houston shut the Colts down in the second inning to leave two runners on base but no runs.  North Delta came back into the dugout in the bottom half of the inning and added two more runs.  
Cole Devazier got on base with an error on the second baseman who could not find a fly ball in shallow right field.  Zach Adams and Jones Montgomery followed that up with walks.  
Holland would bring one run home on a one out RBI walk.  The second run of the inning would be brought in by another Baker RBI on a fielder’s choice.  
With Houston still taking care of business and Holland making a diving catch for an out, the Green Wave scratched one more across in the third.  
Zach Adams hit a sacrifice fly to right field to bring in Hankins who walked.  Holland made a nice play in the top of the third when a ball took him towards the six hole.  He then laid out to make the grab and threw the ball across the entire infield to beat the runner for the out.
Lee Academy’s bats came back to life in the fourth, but it was for only one run to bring the score to 5-3.  North Delta added one more run in the bottom half. Ross shot one back up the middle for a single, and he was brought home by Ethan Calvert’s single down the left field line.  
The Colts were pesky enough to score another in the fifth to make it 6-4.  North Delta tried to answer with Devazier appearing like he touched the plate before being tagged but was called out.  
The Green Wave needed runs badly, but answered in the sixth.  They kept their scoring drought to only one inning as they battled back with three runs.
Baker led it off with a one out triple.  Calvert also hit a double after Hankins got on with an error.  Lige Simmerman then walked to load the bases.  Devazier hit a fielder’s choice to score one run.  Zach Adams followed with a huge two RBI single to left center.  
North Delta got the insurance they needed.  Adams held the Colts to just two runs.  The Green Wave got the district win they needed as they moved past the Colts.  Next week they will face off against Charleston (Monday), St. Joseph (Tuesday and Thursday), and Northpoint Christian (Friday).
Lee Academy JV 7, NDJV 1
The Junior Varsity team for North Delta looked good until a five run inning by Lee Academy made the game look worse than it was.  
Caleb Capwell started the game and kept them scoreless for two innings.  In bottom of the second, North Delta earned their only run on a single by Caleb Tutor to bring Nathan Walls in after he had been hit by a pitch.  
The Colts of Lee Academy then brought two runs home on two RBIs after a HBP and error to put them in the lead 2-1.  
North Delta had a chance to score in the bottom half, but they could not get Eli Robb home from second.  
North Delta struggled to get off the field in the fourth.  The Colts scored five on three errors and a walk to go along with one single.  The Green Wave could not score anything in the last inning to bring the game to a close.  
Robb went two for two in the game with two singles and was followed by Caleb Tutor who had one hit and RBI on his one plate appearance.