The Harlan Lady Dragons had no problem shaking off the rust in their season opener Tuesday against Evarts.

The Lady Dragons pounded out six hits and capitalized on nine Evarts errors as they coasted to a 17-0 victory in three innings.

"Starting off with a district game is always scary, and I went in tentative," Harlan coach Chuck Mitchell said. "I told the girls, we've got to be ready to play, because you never know what's going to happen. But we played well tonight."

Evarts coach Robert Amundsen said his team was too nervous going into the game.

"I think we were too tight. We played last night against Bell, but this was in the district, against Harlan. Some folks were just not listening," he said.

Jessica Rice (1-0) collected the win for the Lady Dragons. The senior faced just nine batters, striking out four and hitting one.

Rice also turned in an impressive performance at the plate, drawing two walks and reaching on a fielder's choice. She stole three bases and scored three runs.

Eighth-grader Ariel Brown (0-1) took the loss for the Lady Cats in her first career start.

The first batter Rice faced was one of only two Evarts players to reach base. Rice hit left fielder Kim Abner with a pitch to lead off the game.

Abner was erased when Kristin Cornett grounded into a fielder's choice. Harlan second baseman Britany Jones' throw to first sailed wide, allowing Cornett to advance to second.

Rice escaped unscathed when catcher Tierra Sundy gunned down Cornett on an attempted steal and third baseman Amy Baird struck out looking.

Harlan sent 11 batters to the plate and tacked on eight runs in the bottom half of the inning. Shortstop Megan Ball smacked an RBI double to open the scoring, and third baseman Courtney Bell drilled a triple to center field for the Lady Dragons' only hits of the frame.

The rest of the runs in the first inning came as the result of Harlan's aggressive base-running