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SOUTH CHINA — The Erskine Academy softball team couldn’t touch Hallie Coots the first time through the lineup Thursday. Then, a matter of inches changed things.

With Erskine trailing Nokomis by a run, Faith MacMaster led off the bottom of the fourth inning with a single down the left-field line that drew barely enough chalk to be fair. Then, Lilly Clark hit a towering fly that just kept carrying, ultimately clearing the left-field fence for a home run.

That proved to be all Erskine needed. Kelsie Dunn complemented the momentum swing, pitching a two-hitter to propel the Eagles to a 3-1 victory over Nokomis in a KVAC Class B cross-region showdown.

“I just try to not think about anything — just hit and hope my team cheers me on,” Clark said. “I didn’t know until (I was almost) at third base (that it had cleared the fence). … I haven’t done that before, so it was nice.”

HOW ERSKINE DID IT

• Dunn delivered. The junior allowed just two hits for the Eagles (5-1) and played through pain in the sixth and seventh innings after getting hit in the shin by an errant Coots pitch in the bottom of the fifth.

“I just had to power through,” said Dunn, who is Coots’ best friend and knows many of the Nokomis players through travel ball. “I know all these girls — I know how they hit — and I trust in my defense; we had zero errors today, and that gave me the strength to push harder.”

• Patience. Coots mowed down the Erskine lineup for Nokomis (4-2) the first time through the order, striking out five batters in the first two innings and taking a no-hitter into the fourth. Yet after MacMaster broke the ice for the Eagles, Clark needed just one swing to put the Eagles in front.

“Once we get through it — get once or twice around the lineup — we feel pretty confident in each other,” Dunn said. “Anybody can hit the ball anytime, and we always have people that can come in and hit for us.”

WHAT IT MEANS

• Erskine earns a key win in the Class B South standings. The Eagles were already in the mix, but a win against a perennial contender in the North, Tripp said, stands out on their résumé.

“These guys are going to win a ton of games, so this is one of those wins that’s going to earn us a ton of points and really help us,” Tripp said. “When you see a team only once, you’ve got to take care of business when you see them, and we were able to do that.”

• Nokomis lost for the second time in three games after starting the season 3-0. Coach J.D. McLellan said the Warriors did a good job making contact against Dunn — Nokomis struck out just three times — but the Erskine junior’s strong spin led to a lot of pop-outs and groundouts.

“When you’ve got a pitcher that good that can really put spin on the ball, you’ve got to take your chances,” McLellan said. “It was a fun game, and both (pitchers) pitched well. You didn’t have a lot of people going deep into the count.”

NOTABLE QUOTABLE

“Kelsie Dunn is such a workhorse. She gets drilled by a pitch, and she’s falling over, but she just steps up and says, ‘OK, everybody; climb on board.’ She’s ready for the next pitch always, she loves to be focused, and she really cares a lot. We do what we do because of her.” — Holly Tripp

STAT LEADERS

• Nokomis: Hallie Coots (L, 6 IP, 8 K, BB, 4 hits allowed), Del Randlett (1B, RBI)

• Erskine: Kelsie Dunn (W, CG, 3 K, 3 BB, 2 hits allowed), Lilly Clark (HR, 2 RBI), Emma Wooley (2B, 1B)

UP NEXT

• Nokomis: vs. Maine Central Institute (2-4), 4 p.m. Friday

• Erskine: vs. Waterville (0-5), 4 p.m. Friday