Simple plays can make a big difference.

With the score tied at five in the bottom of the seventh, Lakeville North's Jessica Meidl opened with a single.

Erika Rozell followed with a deep fly to center field, and an alert Meidl ran into scoring position at second.

"It was a great read by Jessica (Meidl) to see that," Panthers' coach Sean Hall said. "I don't know if it was her or our first base coach, but it doesn't matter. With our three and four hitters up, they were playing deep and the ball carried the center fielder away from second. A great heads up play and we got a runner in scoring position."

"I thought it was gone," Panthers' senior Katherine Parker said of Rozell's long fly out. "I was thinking I didn't have to bat, but the wind just didn't take it enough."

No worries, though. Parker, who earlier crushed a two-run home run to right center, connected on the second pitch from Bloomington Jefferson's Krista Flugstad, and Meidl scored easily to give the third-ranked Panthers a 6-5 walk-off win against the No. 5 Jaguars.

"I just wanted to get something out there, because Jessica (Meidl) has a lot of speed," Parker said. "Anything that gets out there, she is scoring."

It was a big three-RBI day for Parker, who just moved to third in the Panthers' loaded batting order. Safe to say she might stay there for a while.

"She was batting two for a while and we just moved her to the three-hole not too long ago and it really gives us a nice order at three and four," Hall said. "Parker was huge for us today, and we are going to need her to keep going."

In the third Parker took Flugstad's first pitch and drove it to deep right center field. She and her teammates did a bit of homework on Flugstad prior to Monday and were looking to swing early.

"We charted pitches on her (Flugstad) and saw that she throws a lot of first pitch strikes," Parker said. "If we don't look at that, we might not be successful today."

The Panthers are going to have to study and do so often because every game is going to be a test.

On Tuesday they travel to No. 6 Prior Lake, then they have home-and-home on Wednesday and Thursday with Lakeville South and finally play Eastview on Friday.

"We play the five toughest teams that you can play in a week," Hall said. "That is what makes it fun though. It tests us, and I know we look forward to it."

"It makes it exciting to come out and play everyday with a schedule like this," Parker said. "At the end of the season we will be a better team because of it."

The Panthers improve to 12-0 and top of the South Suburban Conference at 5-0. Bloomington Jefferson drops to 10-2 and 5-1 in conference play.