By Brad Greer
Sarah Johnson normally let’s her pitching dominate opposing teams. Tuesday night however it was her bat that helped make the difference.
With North Delta clinging to a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning against Lee Academy, Johnson deposited an 0-1 pitch from Ashlyn Smith over the left field fence for a two-out solo home run  in route to the Lady Green Waves 2-0 district opening victory.
Just for good measure, Johnson proceeded to strike out 16 while limiting Lee to one hit to improve her record to 4-0 on the season. In 21 innings, the senior right-hander has struck out 54 batters while allowing five runs in that  span.
North Delta (4-3; 1-0) hosts Indianola Monday afternoon at 5 p.m. with the Junior Varsity followed by varsity action at 6:30. The Lady Wave then travel to Bayou Tuesday.
North Delta grabbed a 1-0 lead in the second as Taylor Barton led off the inning with a double then later scored on a wild pitch.
Johnson kept the Phillie batters at bay throughout the game by retiring the first ten batters, nine via strike out, before Smith broke up the perfect game by reaching on an error in the fourth. Ann Byrd followed with a double to put runners on second and third with one out. Johnson then proceeded to retire the next two batters to keep the shutout in tact.
Isabella Morrow collected two singles for the North Delta offense while Griffin Rico singled to account for the other Green Wave hit.