South Medford showed off its offensive capabilities in the first round of the Class 6A softball state playoffs, scoring five runs in the fourth inning to break Monday’s game open at Lakeridge en route to a 10-5 triumph.

Playing on the road in Lake Oswego as the No. 18 seed, the Panthers were largely in control until a last-gasp effort by the 15th-seeded Pacers resulted in four of their five runs in their final at-bat.

South Medford (14-12) carried a 1-0 lead into the fateful fourth inning before things really took off behind consecutive extra-base hits from Maleyah Thoele, Kaycee Hudson and Nicole Ledendecker — all coming with two outs.

After Shelby Hillyer singled and Hanna Turpin drew a walk to open the fourth, Thoele came through with a two-run double to create a cushion. Hudson followed with an RBI triple, then Ledendecker crushed a two-run home run to put momentum firmly on South Medford’s side.

For good measure, Turpin came back to hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning after consecutive singles by Bri Turrey and Hillyer.

Those runs would prove critical in terms of the Panthers’ overall comfort level after senior Elayna Jansen ripped a grand slam home run for Lakeridge (15-12) in the bottom of the seventh inning to close the gap.

Undaunted, Ledendecker recorded her eighth strikeout against the next Pacer batter to close out the first-round triumph. The senior right-hander allowed only five hits overall but was saddled with nine walks issued.

On the offensive side, however, Ledendecker went 3-for-4 with three RBIs to help her own cause.

Hillyer was 2-for-3 with two runs in the Panthers’ 10-hit attack, while Hudson scored twice with one RBI and Thoele went 2-for-5 with two doubles and two RBIs.

South Medford advanced to face an all-too-familiar foe during Wednesday’s second round in Southwest Conference champion Sheldon, which earned a 15-0 win over Franklin in three innings during Monday’s opening round.

The reigning 6A state champion Irish (25-3) are the No. 2 seed and swept the three-game conference series with the Panthers by a combined 29-1 run total.