By Will Dickins
North Delta traveled to Bayou Academy Tuesday night for two varsity district games and lost both: 7-3 and 4-0.
Bayou Academy 7, ND 3
The first inning struggles continued for North Delta in District play as Bayou Academy scored six runs in the first inning. It was on six hits and one walk.
After the first inning, the Colts’ bats were silenced by Shawn Payne.  He allowed only one unearned run in the bottom of the third, but quickly sat batters down for the remainder of the game.  This gave North Delta a chance to crawl back into the game.  
In the third inning, they tried to do just that with three runs. The inning started with good contact by Jones Montgomery, but the center fielder made a sliding play to make the catch.  The Green Wave began to make the defense earn their outs and resulted in a few hiccups.  One run scored on an error from the second baseman missing the catch on a double play opportunity. Two more scored on a throwing error by the shortstop.  Bayou Academy answered with one more runs in the bottom half to make it 7-3 at the end of the third inning.
Neither team could figure out how to get a run across for the rest of the game.  Bayou came close in the fifth, but Hayden Hankins caught a ball carrying him towards second base and spun to his left to make the throw home for the out.  North Delta could not get consecutive at bats and only got a runner to second once for the rest of the game, and that was in the seventh inning.
The player of the game would be Shawn Payne for North Delta with four and two-thirds innings pitched and giving up zero earned runs, six hits, and striking out three.  
The bats were not active for the Green Wave with only four hits.  Hunter Baker, Hayden Hankins, Ethan Calvert, and Cole Devazier had one each. Montgomery’s night was unfortunate as he hit hard for his at bats, but they were caught.  
Bayou Academy 4, ND 0
With 21 runs scored against Kirk Academy and even more runs given up, one would not expect North Delta to be in a pitching duel. That was the case for the second game of the double header Tuesday night.  
The first inning struggle was gone, but the hitting woes remained.  The Green Wave could not get one run across for the game. It is hard to do when you give up a no hitter to the opposing pitcher.
Through the first three innings, North Delta gave up only two hits. The Bayou Academy pitcher, Nat Jones, got three groundouts in the first and struck out seven straight batters after that.  His perfect game was broken by an error on the shortstop and two walks later on.  
It was not as if his ball was unhittable, but he had a sneaky release that caught hitters off guard.  “It is flat, but gets on you quick” was repeated in the dugout between players.  Whatever reason for it, North Delta could not get solid contact on any pitches.  
Hunter Houston pitched the entire game for the Green Wave and only allowed one big inning in the third.  He allowed three runs, nine hits, two walks, and struck out three batters in seven innings.
Coaches Andrew Haygood and Bill McGee agreed that the game was the best defensive game the team has had all year.  North Delta had no errors in the field and resulted in a good performance.  The bats just have to come alive.  
The next game between North Delta and Bayou Academy is today at 3 p.m. for one varsity game. The Junior High will then host Batesville Junior High for games at 5 and 7 p.m.