By Brad Greer

North Delta’s girls fastpitch softball team got the 2012 season underway by splitting four games over the weekend.

The Lady Green Wave opened up with a 5-4 loss in five innings to Canton in Friday’s home-opener. North Delta then fell 2-1 to Canton again Saturday morning in the Bayou Tournament held on the campus of Delta St. University.

The Lady Waves rebounded with a 7-1 victory over Greenville Washington and 19-4 trouncing of Pillow to finish out the tournament.

North Delta committed six errors in Friday’s setback to Canton as the Lady Panthers jumped out to a 4-0 advantage after two innings of play before holding off a late Green Wave rally.

The Panthers plated two runs in the first inning off Waves starting pitcher Peyton Rico as Sarah Beth Harbour and Becca Holder reached on an error and a single.

After Hanna Parkinson walked to load the bases with one out, Hayden Anderson slapped a single up the middle to drive in a pair of runs. Rico would however escape any further damage by retiring the next two batters of the inning.

Canton extended its lead to 4-0 in the following inning as Ami Elliot drew a one-out walk followed by a Summer Lavender single. After Harbour reached on an error that produced a run, Holder’s single past a diving shortstop drove home the second run of the frame.

North Delta finally got on the board in bottom of the second when cleanup hitter Myles Durham led off with a single and later scored on a wild pitch. Durham led the Green Wave at the dish with three singles and two runs driven in.

North Delta cut the lead in half at 4-2 one inning later as Hastings Neal reached on a two-out error and later scored on Durham’s first run-producing single of the day.

Canton added an insurance run in the fourth off a pair of Green Wave errors and a single off the bat of Anderson.

North Delta closed the margin to 5-4 with a pair of runs as Mary Margaret Pearson led off the inning with an infield single. After Anna Lloyd’s sacrifice bunt moved Pearson to second, Maribeth Johns reached on an error to score Pearson from second.

Back-to-back singles by Hastings Neal and Durham with one out closed the gap to 5-4, but Harbour, a Belhaven commitment, retired the next two batters to end the game.

North Delta registered seven hits in the contest as Hannah Heafner and Sara Johnson produced singles.

The Green Wave will be back in action Friday and Saturday as they compete in the Kirk Tournament, taking on Bayou at 6:30 Friday night.

A victory by the Waves would advance them to Saturday’s winners’ bracket game at 9 a.m. against the Carroll/Calhoun winner while a loss would drop them into a 11:30 losers’ bracket game against the same two teams.