Jonas Pope IV, Herald sports editor

Jonas Pope IV | Daily Herald Eagles pitcher Molly Hargrave and the Lady Easgles picked up a win over Terra Ceia Thursday. Advertisement

LASKER - On a picture-perfect day for softball, the Northeast Academy Eagles did some spring cleaning as they took out the Knights of Terra Ceia 12-6 Thursday afternoon.

The Eagles (5-11) found their rhythm at the plate early and despite some lapses in the third inning, dominated the Knights.

“I thought we pretty much put it (all) together today,” head coach Joella Brown said. “We didn't walk many people, didn't have many errors; we kept our heads up and had a good game today.”

The Northeast defense looked sharp early on as pitcher Molly Hargrave and the rest of the Eagles held Terra Ceia without a hit in the first inning. Once Northeast got to the plate, it looked like this one would be over shortly.

The Eagles quickly loaded the bases and Jennifer Sykes drove in the first run of the day with a single.

The Eagles got two thanks to an error by the Knights and a single by Callie Burgess, which made it 3-0.

Once again the bases were loaded and Terra Ceia pitcher P. Roberson walked Lauren Edwards to make it 4-0.

Ashley Ricks then nailed an RBI single to make it 5-0, and Roberson walked in another run to put the home team up 5-0.

The Knights decided to then switch pitchers, but that would make little difference to Northeast Academy.

New hurler M. Boyd's first pitch turned into an RBI courtesy of Christie Glover to give the Eagles the 7-0 point advantage.

After a wake-up call from their coach, the Knights picked up two unearned runs in the top of the second inning, and then forced Northeast Academy to go three and out in the bottom of the inning.

Hargrave only gave up one hit in the third and the Eagles went right back to work on offense.

Lee Ann Barnes singled to score Lori Coggins, Ricks came home on an error and then Christie Glover's two-run, inside the park home run put Northeast ahead by seven, 9-2.

J.V. Essendelf got an RBI in the top of the fourth for the Knights' only score, and S. Welti added another run in the top of the fifth to make it 11-4.

Just when it appeared the visitors were getting some momentum, Sykes smacked an RBI triple deep into center field for the Eagles' final score of the evening.

Terra Ceia added two more runs in the top of the seventh, but it wouldn't be enough for the comeback.