Knightdale — Monday’s Senior Night was full of spirit on the Knightdale softball field. The solo senior, Chelsey Early, was recognized for her dedication to the team, but shortly after, a rain cloud approached and a Wildcat offensive followed.

West Johnston began scoring in the sixth on its way to a 5-0 victory over Knightdale.

West Johnston, who had shutout 14 straight opponents before losing to Garner last week, found themselves in another battle at Knightdale on Monday night.

The Lady Knights got to West’s starter, Amanda Davenport, in the second inning on a one-out double by Heather Johnson and a seeing-eye single by Paige Peterson, but Johnson was thrown out at the plate and the game remained scoreless.

In the third, Knightdale’s Samantha Cox smacked a ball to right center on a lead-off triple.

A pickoff attempt that was headed into left field seemed to be the Knights’ first run of the game. The ball ricocheted off third base and bounced high over third baseman Jessi Jones toward left field. Jones retreived the ball with an acrobatic over-the-shoulder catch and threw a strike to the plate to deny Cox’s slide.

“I thought scoring an early run might shake them,” coach Ben Vessa said of the Wildcat team. “They haven’t been scored on much this year. In hindsight, I was probably overzealous in sending home the two runners, but you never know how many chances you’re going to get against them.”

The game remained scoreless until the sixth inning when the rain began to fall steadily. After a wild pitch plated West Johnston's first run, the game was put on hold for 10 minutes due to weather.

"Unfortunately, we were out in the field during the rain, and the slick ball played a part in the trouble we encountered in the sixth,” Vessa said.

Kayla Boggs walked two and threw two wild pitches in the inning, but the big hit came after the rain had passed when West Johnston catcher Jordan Alexander blasted a two-out, bases-clearing triple which broke the seal.

West added another run in the seventh on a solo homerun by Kelsey Eddinger, to set the final at 5-0.

Alexis Betancourt picked up the win in relief of Davenport, and Boggs suffered the hard-luck loss.

“Kayla was terrific tonight. A couple of breaks that go our way, and it could have been a different outcome,” Vessa said. “We have been very consistent over the last three weeks, playing with passion and confidence. We’re looking forward to the conference tournament on Friday.”

Knightdale, a six-seed, takes on three-seeded East Wake Friday at Smithfield Community Park field three at 7 p.m.