MONTICELLO — A pair of Division 6-4A front runners, Brookhavenand Lawrence County met Tuesday evening at Mamie Martin Field forGame 1 of their division softball bonanza. The Lady Panthers issued15 hits in a 10-2 win over the Lady Cougars.

Brookhaven is the defending division champion, while theLawrence County Lady Cougars finished second. Only the top 2 teamsin each division will advance to the state playoffs. The rematch atLawrence County will be rescheduled prior to the end of the regularseason.

Brookhaven returns to action on Saturday in the BrookhavenTournament at the Hansel King Sportsplex. Lawrence Co. hostsMendenhall Thursday at 5 p.m. for a varsity game only.

Ole Brook (13-3, 6-1) opened the scoring in the first. With 1out, Christi Martin, Brittany Smith and Ashley Sykes singled toload the bases. Catcher Katie Smith grounded into a fielder’schoice, to score Martin. Sabrina Delaughter singled home BrittanySmith and the Lady Panthers held a 2-0 lead.

Lawrence Co. (13-6, 5-2) cut the deficit to a run, 2-1 in thetop half of the second. Senior shortstop Emily Smith singled andmoved to second on a fielding error by Ole Brook. Three batterslater, Kate Davis’ sacrifice fly to left center scored Smith.

The Lady Panthers extended their advantage to 10-1 through 4innings; scoring 3 runs in the third and 5 runs in the fourth.Martin and Brittany Smith each scored twice and singled twiceduring the 2-inning span. Sykes, Delaughter, Kelly Vinson and JanaWallace also crossed home plate for head coach Lisa Covington.

“This was a great win for us,” said Covington. “It was a goodgame. We played a complete game today.”

The Lady Panthers rebounded strongly from a 13-6 division lossat Florence last Thursday.

Ward’s squad added a single run in the sixth, when Sonni Smithscored on an error by the Lady Panthers. Smith led off the inningwith a single.

“We got whipped,” said Lady Cougar head coach Tarvey Ward.

Ole Brook’s Brittany Smith picked up the win. Krystal Carrsuffered the loss for LCHS.

The Lady Cougars got singles from Shaina Starks, Collins, SonniSmith (2), Emily Smith and Carr.

The Lady Panthers were led by Martin and Brittany Smith, whoeach had 3 singles and scored 3 runs. Sykes and Vinson each singledand doubled. Jana Wallace singled twice. Collecting singles wereKatie Smith, Delaughter and Katie Stewart.