Arabia Mountain third baseman Myia Lewis comes up to field a grounder against Starr’s Mill. (Photo by Mark Brock)

Starr’s Mill rallied twice in the opening game on the way to a sweep of the Arabia Mountain Rams in the Class 5 Fast-pitch playoffs Sweet 16 round at Arabia Mountain on Wednesday.

The Rams opened a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning by sending nine batters to the play. Kayla Phillips, Jalyn Barker and Makeala Evans all had RBI singles in the inning.

Starr’s Mill would rally to tie the game at 4-4 on a Jordan Childress RBI single in the second and a big two-run double off the fence by Kate Ashmore in the third.

Childress would score on an error in the fourth to put the Panthers up 5-4.

Evans and Dymond Brown would score in the bottom of the fourth for the Rams as Arabia regained the lead at 6-5 heading into the fifth.

Starr’s Mill reliever Paige Andrews who entered for starter Wakana Sato in the fourth would hold the Rams scoreless over the next two inning.

Arabia Mountain’s Kayla Phillips connects for a RBI single against Starr’s Mill. (Photo by Mark Brock)

The Panthers retook the lead with four runs in the top of the fifth aided by a bases-loaded walk, another RBI single by Childress and RBI ground outs by Kennedy Dennis and Laura Sellers.

Starr’s Mill added two more runs in the sixth to extend the lead to 11-6 as Childress again singled in a run.

Arabia Mountain loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh and Marcella Ferguson was hit by a pitch to drive in one run. But Andrews got a strikeout and a groundout to end the game with the final 11-7 in favor of the Panthers.

Starr’s Mill (23-10) went on to win the second game 10-7 and clinch the best of three series over the Rams.

Arabia Mountain (21-9) finished the season with a Region 5-5A championship and their first-ever playoff series win (over Kell).