ST. CLAIRSVILLE — It all starts at the top for the St. Clairsville softball team and that was certainly the case Monday night.

The first four batters in the Red Devils lineup combined for 10 runs, eights hits and half-a-dozen runs batted in as they rolled to a 12-2 mercy-rule victory over visiting Martins Ferry on the North Market Street diamond. The game was halted with two outs in the bottom of the fifth due to the 10-run differential.

“They’re solid. They’re pretty solid,” first-year St. Clairsville head coach Ron Hummel said of the top of his order. “But, we had a couple of hits from the bottom of our lineup. That’s what it’s all about. I hope we start hitting from 1-9.

“I wasn’t really worried,” he explained of the layoff following a loss to Union Local last week. “I didn’t know how we would do hitting-wise, but after the last couple of practices in the cage, I felt confident we would hit the ball.

“That game with UL was just one of those nights. Everyone has them,” he added. “We just happened to have one that night.”

The suddenly struggling Purple Riders (1-3) plated two runs in the top of the first against St. C. ace Amaya Smith, but it came with some help from the hosts.

Mercedez McLeod reached on a one-out error and Sydney Bridges singled to left. Kara Kapiskosky was inseted as a courtesy runner for McLeod and both runners moved up on a wild pitch.

Abby Bumbico’s sharp comebacker was snagged on one-hop by Smith who caught Kapiskosky in a rundown between third and home. The throw to the plate was dropped as Kapiskosky slid in safely. An ensuing wild pitch allowed Bridges to race home for a 2-0 lead.

The Purple Riders advantage was short-lived as the Red Devils tallied three times in the bottom of the inning.

Taylor Gallentine lined a double down the left field line. A wild pitch moved her to third and she sprinted home on Madison Vickers’ bunt single. Vickers went to second on a wild pitch and to third on Smith’s infield single. Vickers would score on a wild pitch and Bre Bennington’s grounder brought in Smith for a 3-2 edge.

Martins Ferry would only get two more runners aboard as Smith settled into a groove. The St. Francis, Pa., recruit retired five straight batters, including the final two in the first frame, until McLeod singled up the middle leading off the third. She was replaced by a courtesy runner who was caught stealing. Smith then set down six more before Corin Ellsworth bunted for a base hit with one out in the fifth.

A four-run third bumped the count to 7-2 as Amanda Ballard and Hannah Stachyra had run-scoring singles. One run scored on an error and the other on a sacrifice.

Smith, Reager and Ballard all singled in runs in the fourth for a 10-2 reading.

The Red Devils put things away in the fifth when Gallentine singled with one out and stole second. With two outs, Smith walked before Reager ripped a RBI single to center. Bennington’s grounder was misplayed as a run scored.

“We’re usually a slow starting team, but this is ridiculous,” Martins Ferry head coach Paige Williams stressed. “I don’t know what’s going on. We have no fire. Ever since the Dibby Ball game we’ve been flat, both at practice and in games. We’re usually in a pretty good swing by now, but we might have everything perfected, but we our a long ways from perfection. We’ve got a lot of issues, but we’ll figure it out.”

Smith finished with seven strikeouts and no walks. She allowed just three singles and threw 69 pitches, of which 52 were strikes.

McLeod, one of three Martins Ferry hurlers, suffered the loss. Her, Bumbico and Amanda Jacob combined three Ks, seven base-on-balls, hit a batter and yielded 10 hits.

Gallentine singled twice, doubled and scored three runs from the leadoff spot. Vickers had an RBI single and cross the plate three times, while Smith drove in a run with two singles and scored three runs. Reager had four RBI on a single and double.