Staff photo by Mike Buhler Southland's Darcy McMinn (left) beats out the throw to North Pemiscot first baseman Saray Flores during Friday's Tri-County Conference softball game at Arbyrd. [Click to enlarge]

Entering the season as one of the favorites to win the Tri-County Conference this spring, the Lady Rebels struggled in a 5-2 loss to conference foe Holcomb to open the year.

They haven't lost since, winning their third contest in a row with a 6-0 shutout of the North Pemiscot Lady Mustangs here Friday.

"We are playing much better in the last three games -- both in the field and especially with hitting," Southland coach Johnny McMinn said. "We have had 40 hits in the last three games but only two in the first game.

"The pitching in the first game was a little better than the others, but I think we were a little nervous as well. Hopefully we are over that now."

The Lady Rebels (3-1) took a 2-0 lead in the top of the third inning as Alicia Holder doubled home Katy Crouch and Ashley Temples. Holder scored later in the inning to cap the rally.

Southland extended the lead to 4-0 in the top of the fourth when Candace Bowles doubled to drive in Paige Baugh.

The Lady Rebs tacked on a pair of runs in the top of the fifth inning when Darcy McMinn singled and scored on a passed ball, while Magen Hembrey came home on an error to complete the scoring.

"We still have a lot of room to improve," said coach McMinn, "but I think we are moving in the right direction."

While Southland's offense was putting up runs, pitcher Becca Bakich made sure the Lady Mustangs didn't score any, tossing seven innings of four-hit shutout ball. Bakich struck out five and walked two to record the complete-game victory.

Darcy McMinn was 3-for-4 with three stolen bases and a double to lead the Lady Rebel attack, while Bowles was 2-for-3 with a RBI double and Holder drove in a pair of runs

The Lady Rebels take on South Pemiscot on Monday to begin a grueling stretch of games next week.

"Next week will be a big test for us with five games," coach McMinn said, three of which are conference -- Gideon on Tuesday (plus) Delta C7 and Campbell on Thursday."

Notes: The game was originally scheduled to be played at Wardell, but was moved to Arbyrd because of a wet field. North Pemiscot still batted as the home team. ... Darcy McMinn was an All-Daily Dunklin Democrat selection as a freshman last season.