SLIDELL – Somebody was going to breakup an epic pitching duel Thursday evening in the Non-Select Division I baseball series opener between Natchitoches Central and Northshore.
NCHS’s Owen Smith and his counterpart from Northshore stacked up zeroes, helped along by exceptional defense, as both teams showed why they were worthy playoff entries, but the Panthers’ Kirk Johnson delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh for a 2-0 victory in Game 1 of the best-of-3 LHSAA playoff series.
Smith scattered five hits and struck out five while throwing 106 pitches for the Chiefs. Daygen Johnson had a pair of singles and Jaxon Bernard added a base hit for NCHS.
The teams meet today at 6:30 in Game 2. If the Chiefs win, the third game is Saturday at noon.
Northshore, the 12th seed, improved to 26-9. NCHS, the 21st seed, fell to 21-14.
Softball playoffs begin this evening with NCHS and St. Mary’s at home at 6 in their games, while Lakeview travels to Logansport. All those are single-eliminatation.
