Lakeland High School’s softball team entered Thursday’s contest at Oscar Smith High School coming off a deflating offensive performance on Monday in which it fell 12-0 to visiting Great Bridge High School.

“After coming off of that, I mixed up the lineup a little bit and just kind of let them loose,” Lady Cavaliers head coach Cara Byrd said.

Her team unleashed a 22-2 stampede over the Lady Tigers.

Byrd said she has confidence in her team, which improved to 2-1, but her players’ self-assurance had been lacking. Referring to the lopsided score, Byrd said she “wasn’t trying to be ugly or anything. I just kind of wanted to do it for their confidence.”

Stasha Waterfield pulled off an inside-the-park home run for Lakeland. Her teammates piled on more hits as Sarah Bowyer went 2-for-4 with three runs batted in, Taylor Roten went 2-for-4, Jada Futrell went 3-for-4 and Katie Peelen went 1-for-2 with three RBIs, also improving to 2-1 on the mound.

Byrd wanted to make sure her team entered Friday’s cross-city contest against Nansemond River High School (2-1, 0-0) with the right spirit.