Pearl River Central’s Lady Blue Devils battled hard, but ended up losing the first game of a three game series against West Jones 6-4 Monday evening.

The loss means when PRC travels to the Lady Mustangs April 27 they’ll have to win both games to advance to the next round of the playoffs.

Jazmin Robertson got the start on the mound and had to battle through some high-pressure situations, but was able to hold the Lady Mustangs to just four earned runs while striking out three.

However, some defensive errors by PRC and good base running by West Jones allowed the Lady Mustangs to plate six runs on the night.

PRC was down 1-0 after the first inning, but bounced back with a two-run second inning catalyzed by Madison Smith, the junior went 2-2 on the night with two RBIs, who hit an RBI single to send a runner home before Callie Lee was able to score on a bad throw by West Jones.

Now up 2-1, the Lady Blue Devils scored again in the third inning when Ashlyn Dean doubled to send Izzy Martin home.

However, West Jones retook the lead in the fourth inning by plating three runners before scoring another two runs in the top of the fifth inning.

PRC got a singular run home in the bottom of the sixth when Baylee DeVore was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded, but West Jones was able to get out of the jam and maintain the 6-4 lead through the rest of the game.

After the hard fought loss, PRC Head Coach Tony Labella said he was happy with his team’s tenacity, even if it wasn’t enough to win the game.

“They just won a couple more battles than we did. That’s two really good teams. We had some decisions with cuts and things that cost us and we’ve had problems with that, but give them credit; they won more battles than us,” Labella said.