The first week of the District 10-2A softball season did not go quite as expected for Paradise High School. The group dropped its first two games and was in the bottom of the standings, looking up at everyone.

One week later, however, the Lady Panthers made up some ground to get back into the middle of things. They scored 27 runs in two games to beat rival Boyd and Godley to move even in the playoff race at 2-2.

The biggest win was Friday in Boyd. The Lady Panthers dished out more than a dozen hits and played well enough on defense to hold off the Lady Yellowjackets for a 12-9 win.

"We had a very solid defensive game," said PHS coach Karen Essig. "We had great hitting as well."

The Paradise bats heated up after a scoreless first inning. The squad collected six runs by the fourth inning to take a 6-2 lead. Boyd managed one in each of the third and fourth frames.

Candice McDaniel, who scored three times, helped put the game away in the late innings. She smacked an RBI triple to help Paradise score five times in the final two at-bats.

Jessica Wood, who knocked in three runs, finished with a team-high four base hits to lead the offense. Casey Fletcher also had something to do with all the scoring as she scored twice, had two RBIs a double and a single.

Boyd's April Mandel and Baylie Moran, both of whom will play at the college level next year, sparked their team late in the game by scoring four runs in the sixth inning and three in the seventh.

Lady Panther pitcher Baleigh Newman did not let things get any closer. She struck out 11 batters and left several runners on base in the final three innings.

She also struck out five batters on Saturday to lead her team to a 15-0 win over Godley that ended early via the mercy-rule.

McDaniel and Fletcher scored three times to lead the way. Ashley Wellborn, Newman and Wood scored twice and Hannah Runnels, Meg Arthur and Chaney Fuller rounded home plate once.

Base hits were few and far between in the first two losses in district play. Paradise got hits from Emily Fuller, Fletcher Fuller and Runnels but that was it in a 5-1 loss at Eastland.

The Lady Panthers also came up short in Cisco. The Loboes scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning and that made the difference in a 7-3 loss.

McDaniel, Wellborn and Runnels scored the runs for the Paradise, two of which were knocked in by Fletcher.