By Brad Greer

Peyton Rico might have had butterflies inside her stomach as she stood in the pitchers circle Tuesday night, but on the outside the sophomore was as cool as the other side of a pillow.

With the bases loaded and one out while protecting a 4-3 lead in the fifth and  final inning, Rico struck out Cassie Taylor then got the final batter to fly out to Hastings Neal as North Delta defeated Carroll Academy to clinch at least a share of the District 1-2A title.

North Delta (13-5; 6-1) can clinch their second straight district championship with a win over Marshall in two weeks in their final regular season contest.

“I don’t think I have ever been that nervous in my life. I just wanted to get those final two outs anyway I could. It was a big relief when Hastings caught that ball. All I did was take a deep breath,” said a smiling Rico, braces and all.

Trailing 4-0 in the fifth, Carroll got the bats smoking on a cool night as Taylor Thornton led off the inning with a single. Sam McCreary and Memeroy Corley followed by reaching on a single and error to load the bases.

Haley Ladell then roped a 1-2 offering by Rico into left field for a bases-clearing double. After Payton Clanton walked, Bailey Merritt grounded into a force out for out number one.

Rico then walked Ann Marie McClain to reload the bases before retiring the final two batters.

Both teams threatened to put runs on the board in the first inning but came away empty handed. Carroll loaded the bases in the top of the first only to have Merritt strike out to end in the inning.

The Green Wave put runners on second and third with two outs before Neal lined out to center to end the inning.

In the second,  right fielder Courtney DuBravec nailed Cassie Taylor at home plate for the third out of the inning to keep the game scoreless.

North Delta got on the board in the bottom half of the frame as Anna Lloyd reached on an infield single then later scored on Bradi Beard’s two-out single.

The Lady Wave tacked on three more runs in one inning latter to take a 4-0 lead. Laci DuBravec got the rally started by reaching on an error. Pinch-runner Hannah Heafner then scored on Erin Snider’s RBI double. After Neal and Lloyd’s back-to-back singles, Katherine Rich drilled a two-run double to dive in both runners.

Beard and Lloyd paced the North Delta offense with two singles each. Snider and Rich followed with doubles while Neal registered a single. Rico meanwhile surrendered eight hits on two earned runs while walking three and striking out five batters.