STONEWALL – After traversing the most difficult stretch of the season that included two nationally ranked teams and another fellow reigning state champion, North DeSoto appeared well rested in a pair of wins this week.

The Lady Griffins walloped Minden, 16-1, in the District 1-4A Tournament championship game Wednesday after dismantling Airline, 10-2, on Tuesday.

The district tournament replaced a typical district schedule in which teams were seeded based on the previous year’s standings. The tournament frees up each district member to schedule more teams of their choice instead of playing more games against district opponents.

North DeSoto (26-4) plunges into its final stretch of the regular season with home games against West Monroe on Friday, Jena on Monday and Benton on Tuesday.

Dominant pitching and power hitting were again the recipe this week in the two wins.

Maddy Stringer belted two home runs and totaled six RBIs against Minden. Ciara Orgeron chipped in with one home run and four RBIs while Carsyn Curtis added another three RBIs.

The Lady Griffins scored 11 runs combined in the first two innings, run-ruling Minden in four innings.

That was more than enough for pitcher Laney Johnson, who allowed one unearned run on three hits in four innings.

Johnson was similarly dominant against Airline, not allowing a run in three innings as the starter.

With a 9-0 lead after three innings, reliever Avery McCloskey came in and tossed the final four frames with two runs allowed on five hits and seven strikeouts.

Stringer and Orgeron each drove in three runs to lead an offense that scored 10 runs on 10 hits.