In the second inning of the opening game of their best-of-three, Class 4A State Championship Series, Newton County left the bases loaded without pushing across a run and coach Justin Chaney said he was worried his squad wasn’t taking advantage of a key opportunity.

    No need to worry. Defending state champion Houston kept providing Newton County with opportunities here Friday, and the Lady Cougars didn’t miss out on another one.

    In a rematch of the 2012 state title series, Newton County earned a little payback with a 16-3 trouncing of Houston at Freedom Ridge Park. Game 2 of the series is set for noon Saturday, with the if-necessary game to follow.

    “I was scared after that second inning,” Chaney said. “We lost a run at the plate and left the bases loaded … but from then on out, we did everything we were supposed to do as a team.

    “We keep talking about doing the little things right, and this team has bought into that. After that inning, we did everything that we had to do to keep adding run after run.”

    Runs were plentiful Friday, as were mistakes by the defending state champion Lady Hilltoppers. Newton County (29-4) banged out 11 base hits, but also took advantage of four Houston (26-7) errors and a combined seven walks and eight wild pitches by three Houston hurlers.

    The third inning was the biggest for Newton County, as the Lady Cougars sent 12 batters to the plate and erupted for nine runs to turn a 1-1 tie into a blowout.

    Ashton Lampton started the inning with a hit and scored on an error, then Darby Bishop’s ground-rule double put a pair of runners in scoring position. Latesia Davis scored from third when an ill-advised throw on Cassidy Blount’s grounder was too late — and the floodgates opened from there.

    Newton County was up 10-1 after three innings and 14-2 after four before finishing off Houston in the rout-shortened, five-inning game. Lampton finished with three hits while Shelby Barrett and Shea Alexander drove in three runs apiece to lead Newton County’s attack. Darby Bishop remained unbeaten in the circle, and even though the Lady Cougars committed one error — they were solid in the field and got a dazzling, home run-robbing catch from Barrett when she knocked down the fence to catch Audi Dendy’s towering fly ball in the first inning.

    Bishop went four innings and gave up just one earned run before Dalmerika King finished up for Newton County.

    At the plate, Lampton was 3-for-4 with a triple, three runs and two RBIs and Alexander was 2-for-3 with three RBIs and one run. Barrett had one hit, three RBIs and two runs scored; Abby Reeves had one hit and three runs scored; Bishop and Blount each had doubles; Davis had one hit and two runs scored; Savannah Gates singled and scored; and Hannah May added a pair of runs.

    Houston managed eight hits, with Talaja Echoles getting two including a fifth-inning home run. Yasmeen Cooper added a single and a double, Mary Kansas Sullivan had a double, and Avery Springer and Madeline Burdine each added RBI singles.

    “Hey, they can hit it,” Chaney said of the Lady Hilltoppers, who beat Newton County 10-7 and 5-3 to take last year’s title. “They hit it like they hit it last year. “But today, we took care of business. We’ve just got to find a way, somehow, some

way, to get one win tomorrow. That’s all we’re looking for right now: One more win.”