Gamecocks jump out to 5-0 lead at home and cruise to victory, pushing UCLA to an elimination game on Saturday.

Benicia’s Emma French leaps to catch a high-thrown ball and manages to tag Deja Montgomery as she tries to steal second base during the Panther’s 10-0 win in the sixth inning of the 2024 North Coast Section Softball playoffs on Friday. (Chris Riley/Times-Herald)

Sophomore second baseman Alexandra Hsu had a bases-clearing hit for the Lions in the 2nd inning of their victory over the Stateliners.

GRASS LAKE -- The Grass Lake softball team swept Columbia Central 6-4 and 16-1 on Friday to clinch the Cascades Conference title for the fifth time in a row. Grass Lake (30-4, 21-1 Cascades) took the first game behind a five-strike out pitching performance from Mo Conrad, who held the Golden Eagles to two earned runs on six hits.

The Spartans scored all nine of their runs in the first three innings, jumping ahead early and securing a spot in the Western Mass. Class A finals.

Top three seeds in tournament - No. 1 Stanwood, No. 2 Mount Spokane and No. 3 Enumclaw - were eliminated from championship bracket on Day 1

Kailyn Harkins delivered two hits at the plate for Edison (13-6) and Callie DiBisceglie had an RBI triple in the contest. Jenna Fugate struck out 10 batters in her complete game performance for the Eagles. Steven Bassin can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @SBassin_Sports