LANDIS — It’s a lot like watching Clark Kent walking into a Metropolis phone booth and turning into Superman.

West Rowan’s Peyton Greene plays a role for the Falcons’ basketball team every winter, occasionally banging in the paint but mostly sitting and cheering for her teammates.

But then spring rolls around and Greene transforms into one of the county’s best on the softball diamond. She keyed a challenging 6-4 South Piedmont Conference win by the defending champs at South Rowan on Tuesday with a complete game and 10 strikeouts in the circle and three RBIs at the plate.

“South beat us here last year and the other game was tight,” said West Rowan coach Jimmy Greene, who has two daughters playing for him this season. “(Falcons shortstop) Hunter Gibbons walked over and told me, ‘Well, it’s South, and it’s always like this.'”

West Rowan (3-0, 2-0) trailed 1-0 after one and was down 4-3 after four. A year ago, when West Rowan had two experienced pitchers, coach Greene probably would have taken his daughter out during South Rowan’s three-run fourth. He doesn’t have that luxury now, but Peyton got through a tough inning.

“South is a good-hitting team that makes a lot of contact,” Peyton said. “When they were scoring, it was a test of my mental confidence, but I knew I had to finish.”

Taylor Martin went 4-for-4 at the top of the Falcons’ lineup, and the Falcons produced 11 hits against Sami Kennerly, who struck out four and went the distance for the Raiders (0-2, 0-2). Greene allowed six hits, including two by South Rowan senior Caroline Hubbard.

“It was a tough loss, but we did a lot better job at the plate today than in our first game when we got shut out,” Hubbard said. “We were facing a good pitcher, but we were more disciplined hitters today.”

The decisive half-inning was the West Rowan fifth. With the Falcons down 4-3, Gibbons led off with a triple to the fence in center field. She was nearly out at third. Then when the Raiders failed on a shoe-string catch attempt in right field, Parker Greene, Peyton’s younger sister, had a triple of her own and the score was tied.

Then Peyton, who already had drilled a two-run single to center in the third, singled to left to plate her sibling with the tiebreaking run.

“We’re a good combination,” Peyton said.

West Rowan benefited from catcher Marissa Yow throwing out two South Rowan basestealers, and Khara Fesperman’s bunt scored Camryn Nooner with an insurance run for the Falcons in the seventh.

Hubbard had boomed a double to the left-field fence in the fourth and she led off the bottom of the seventh with a rocket to right. But the ball headed straight for Fesperman’s glove, she caught it, and the last two Raiders went down quietly.

“Defense did it for us more than anything,” coach Greene said. “South’s pitcher (Kennerly) ate us up outside early in the game, but we made adjustments we needed to make.”

W. Rowan       000   302  1 — 6  11  2

S. Rowan        100     300 0 — 4   6   2

WP: Pe. Greene

LP: Kennerly