LOYSBURG — Even though Mother Nature rained on a few parades in central Pennsylvania on Wednesday — talking of course about the postponement of several district softball and baseball playoff games — she wasn’t able to put a damper on the Northern Bedford softball team.

But she tried. And failed as NBC wound up with a win.

In a District 5 Class 1A quarterfinal game between NBC and Southern Fulton, the start was delayed by 30 minutes as nearly a dozen coaches and school officials worked to get a field hit hard by rain in shape. The game started at 5 p.m and was hit with a rain delay at about 6:10 p.m. When it stopped, the field was unplayable, and the Lady Black Panthers were up 11-0 with two outs in the bottom of the fourth.

The umpiring crew and NBC athletic director Ryan Cherry had to come up with a plan. They could play again Thursday or Southern, which was overwhelmed by NBC pitcher Mylee Mitchell and the team’s offense, could concede the victory. When both clubs left the field, a decision had not been made.

“We had one last year where we were playing Fannett-Metal and it was 9-9 in the ninth and it got called because of darkness,” NBC coach Shane Suter said. “They had to come back for the 10th inning the next day. We got them 3-up, 3-down and then we scored and won. So they drove an hour for about a 20-minute game.”

That did not happen this time as District 5 officials determined that “due to conflicts in rescheduling” that Northern Bedford was an 11-0 winner as Southern conceded.

“It would have been nice to celebrate our first playoff win since before me, and our first home playoff game since 2016, but the girls were also happy to get the congratulations text,” Suter said.

Mitchell was a big reason why one would consider conceding. The junior left-handed flamethrower faced 12 batters and struck out 10. No walks and she hit a batter. Only two batters put a ball in play. In the first inning she threw 11 pitches, two were balls as she struck out the side. In the third inning, she did the same, throwing just two balls.

“She is one of the top pitchers in the state. I believe she leads the entire state in strikeouts,” Suter said.

NBC jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first. Mitchell was hit by a pitch to lead off the game, followed by a walk to Emilee Beach, and Callie Miller reached on an error. Willa Poteat, the No. 6 hitter, then crushed a grand slam to left.

“Willa has a ton of power,” Suter said. “Her batting practices are impressive. She is an X factor for us because she has the ability to hit the ball out of the park.”

NBC made it 6-0 in the second when Molli Stepisianos singled and later scored when Mitchell crushed her own home run to right field.

“We get worried sometimes about teams working around her so we have to coax her to be more aggressive,” Suter said of Mitchell. “She had been hitting No. 2 for us, but with playoff time here, every time the lineup turns over, we want her up.”

NBC put the game away with five runs in the fourth in which the inning wasn’t even completed. Miller delivered a two-run single, Tina Thomas added an RBI single as did pinch-hitter Lila Mitchell. That was when the rains came and put an end to the day.

The Lady Black Panthers are supposed to play again on Friday against Berlin Brothersvalley. Now, they have an 11-0 win over a team they only beat 9-5 during the regular season to build on for round two.

“The first time we played (Southern Fulton) was probably one of our worst performances whereas this was one of our best,” Suter said.

Game notes: Miller, Poteat and Mylee Mitchell each had two hits. … Berlin is 20-2 and the top seed in the bracket. The only common opponent is Southern Fulton, which Berlin beat 10-0. However, Berlin has not played a game since May 12. … Southern Fulton center fielder Lakyin Hixson made a spectacular catch in the second inning by fully extending as she dove at a ball in the gap to rob Beach of extra bases.

SOUTHERN FULTON (0): Hixson cf 200, Schriever c 200, Beal p 200, Pittman ss 200, McCusker 1b 100, Travis 3b 000, Mellott 2b 100, Unger lf 100, Mosemann rf 100. Totals — 12-0-0.

NORTHERN BEDFORD (11): M. Mitchell p 212, Kensinger cr 020, Beach c 120, Barton 2b 200, Dick dp 200, McElgin 3b 000, Miller lf 322, Poteat rf 322, Thomas 1b 311, Stepisianos ss 111, Dixon cf 200, L. Mitchell ph 101. Totals — 20-11-9.

SCORE BY INNINGS

Southern Fulton 000 0XX X — 0 0 1

Northern Bedford 420 5XX X — 11 9 0

E–Pittman. 2B–M. Mitchell. HR–M. Mitchell, Poteat. RBI–Poteat 4, M. Mitchell 2, Miller 2, Thomas, L. Mitchell. WP–M. Mitchell. LP–Beal. SO–M. Mitchell 10, Beal 1. BB–Beal 5.

Records: Southern Fulton (10-11), Northern Bedford (12-7).