PICAYUNE — The Lady Devils defeated Picayune 5-0 in the team’s first district game of the season Tuesday night.

For Pearl River Central, the win is the team’s first at Kristi Mitchell Field since 2012.

On the mound, the Lady Devils’ Jade Latham pitched a complete game and struck out nine batters and held the Lady Tide to only one hit.

“Latham’s performance helped us minimize the amount of plays we had to make offensively,” PRC Head Softball Coach Tony LaBella said. “She did a great job getting ahead of the count and was in control the whole night.”

After an error by Picayune in the top of the second inning, Keigan Pearson scored the first run of the game for PRC (9-1, 1-0 Region 7-5A).

Moments later, a groundout by Harlee Davis allowed Alahna Lee to reach home plate. The score gave the team a 2-0 lead.

In the top of the third with runners on third and second, PRC’s Brienne Penton scored after teammate Madison Gower hit a double to center field. One batter later, a sacrifice fly by Pearson permitted Jayden Davis to also reach home plate, which gave the Lady Devils a 4-0 lead. Shelby Archer scored PRC’s last run of the game during the top of the fourth inning when she batted a home run into left field.

“You have to give Picayune credit as well because even though they’re a younger team compared to last year, they made a lot of good defensive plays,” LaBella said. “We can’t celebrate this win too much because we have a tough game ahead of us on Thursday against North Pike.”

PRC’s Latham was 2-for-3 while at-bat, Archer went 1-for-2 with a homerun and Taylor Kauzlarich, Gower and Penton each batted 1-for-3, with Penton and Archer having an RBI each.

Pearson and Harlee Davis also had one RBI each for the Lady Devils.

PRC will play its next game at home against North Pike Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

Meanwhile for Picayune, Morgan Dickerson also pitched a complete game. She allowed six hits, five runs and struck out two batters. Millie Stewart went 1-for-2 while at-bat.

The Lady Tide (0-13, 0-1 Region 7-5A) will play its next game Friday at 7 p.m. when the team visits Bay High.

“We have to do a better job of hitting the ball and getting people on base. We did not come out aggressive early on and when we did have a couple of hits go our way, we didn’t finish like we are supposed to,” Picayune Head Softball Coach Kristi Mitchell said. “Defensively, I think we played a good game. My assistants, Courtney and Hillary Dickens, told the team after the game that Dickerson pitched a game well enough to win. But unfortunately, we didn’t score the runs that we are capable of scoring. We’ll continue to fight and develop as the season plays on.”