The top of the first inning yielded two responses.

For Choctaw Central, beneficiaries of the five-run top of the first, it was a wave of momentum the Lady Warriors kept riding until the end. For Southeast Lauderdale, it proved too big a hill to overcome.

The Lady Warriors took an 18-0, run-rule shortened game against the Lady Tigers in Region 5-3A fast-pitch softball action Thursday night, and Choctaw Central head coach Mercedes Cotton was encouraged by her team’s 13-hit performance, as her team was in the midst of a 1-5 slide prior to Thursday’s game.

“We’ve been struggling for the past few games, but this first inning, it was a whole different team than we saw,” Cotton said of her girls. “They were very confident in their hitting, and they looked really good. It was like a light switch (went on).”

Tia’Rain Saunders, Malaka Morris and Ahnaya Williams all finished 2-for-3, and Saunders and Williams both tripled. Kodi Jimmie finished 2-for-2, and Maiya Joe was 2-for-4 with a triple. Leia Phillips had an RBI double.

“I’m very proud of them,” Cotton said. “We’re a young team, and they’re all working together well. They pick each other up, and it’s just amazing. They’re doing very well.”

After the five-run first inning, Choctaw Central tacked on 12 in the second and six in the third, and pitcher Melanian Jimmie held the Lady Tigers hitless for three innings, allowing just two baserunners to reach on a walk and hit by pitch. She also tallied a strikeout. The game was called after the bottom of the third due to the 15-runs-after-three mercy rule. Due to the amount of runs her team was scoring in the top half of each frame, Melanian Jimmie was forced to keep active in order to stave off the rust when it was time for her to get back on the mound.

“Her mentality… she’s very disciplined, and she likes to work hard, so if I tell her to go out there and stay warm, she does it,” Cotton explained. “She’s a very good kid, and she’s very athletic.”

While the Lady Warriors fed off the positive energy of the top of the first, Southeast Lauderdale could never get going after facing a five-run deficit before the first Lady Tiger came up to bat.

“I don’t think we kept our heads up, I think we gave up and quit,” Southeast Lauderdale head coach Chris Harper said. “That’s what I think. That’s the worst that I’ve seen this team play, and it didn’t look like it was bothering them too much to play badly, so I don’t really know how you correct somebody’s heart.”

Choctaw Central (4-10) will host Kosciusko Friday, while Southeast Lauderdale will face both Union and Sebastopol Saturday at Union, with the first game beginning at 10 a.m.