By JORDON SEMIEN/For the Reporter

PELHAM — The late afternoon’s frigid temperatures contrasted the heated action on the field as the Pelham Panthers squared off with bitter rival Thompson in early season softball. Pelham won the meeting 5-2 in seven innings.

It was a pitchers’ duel from the start as Thompson’s Haley Crumpton and Pelham’s Becky Fox went toe-to-toe for all seven innings. Fox gave up the first two hits of the night in the top of the first as Crumpton reached base on a single and Sarah Holdbrooks got a base hit on an infield error.

After retiring the side, the Panthers looked to go on the attack in the bottom of the first, and did. Base hits from Jordan Ingram and Kristian Foster set up an RBI single for Caitlyn Sapp, followed up with a two RBI singles for Emily Spain for a 3-0 lead for Pelham.

Fox put on a pitching clinic in the game, including a three-up, three-down second inning, before getting in on the offense for the night. Leading off in the bottom of the second, Fox got a stand up triple on two consecutive errors from the Warriors. Foster brought Steely Martin, pinch running for Fox, in for an RBI on a sacrifice bunt, pushing the score to 4-0 Pelham.

Crumpton answered the bell for her team as she blasted a two run homer to deep right to cut the lead to two. Crumpton finished the night with three strikeouts, a walk, nine hits and a 7.50 ERA.

Fox appeared rattled after the home run hit, but soon settled in and kept the blistering pace coming. She ended the game with six strikeouts, one walk, nine hits, and an ERA of 2.57 as the Panthers went on to win 5-2

After the win, Pelham head coach Amy Sullivan took pride in her team, but gave credit to their well-coached opponents.

“They are a very good team, a very good hitting team,” he said. “They put a lot of balls in play and most importantly, it gave our defense tons of reps, tons of work.”