For the first time in 25 years, Keith High School took the field Tuesday for a baseball game. The school added the sport last summer for the first time since 1991, when now-head coach Anthony Lumpkin was a junior in high school.

“I felt like I wanted to go out and play,” Lumpkin said. “It was a great feeling to come back and put this uniform on.”

The Bears (0-1) had a landmark night just by taking the field, but it was Southside (1-1) celebrating at the end of the game. Behind a dominant pitching performance by Keshawn Arrington, the Panthers kept Keith’s bats in checks on their way to a 12-2 victory.

“It’s been a long time, and they’ve been working hard and they deserve this win,” said Southside coach John Solomon said.

Arrington pitched all five innings, and only gave up two hits, although either could’ve been scored an error. Solomon said he needed to check the books, but he thought Arrington had thrown a no-hitter.

“I told him to attack the batters and go straight at them. If they’re going to hit it, let them hit it,” Solomon said. “He did what I asked him to do.”

John Pettway and Denzel Benjamin reached base on hits in the fourth inning, but that was about it for the Bears at the plate.

Southside lost to its biggest rival, Selma, 10-3 on Monday, but the Panthers bounced back with a good day at the plate Tuesday.

Arrington threw nine strikeouts but also helped his cause at the plate. He had four RBIs, including a single in the bottom of the third inning that scored G’Neil Johnson and Marquaveon Murry.

Southside took the lead early with three runs in the bottom of the fifth. Keterius Jones singled to score Arrington to begin the game and a double by Ronnie Caver helped extend the lead to 3-0. Keandre Rutledge scored on Caver’s hit.

In the second, Jamarques Johnson scored on a double steal and Arrington hit a pop fly down the right field line that Keith overran. The ball fell in fair territory and DeQuan Johnson scored to put the Panthers ahead 7-0.

“We’ve just got to cut down on the mistakes,” Lumpkin said. “The stuff we’ve been preaching to them, I think they just had to see it. I think since they’ve seen it now we are going to adjust to it.”

Southside loaded the bases in the inning, but Bears’ pitcher Lamar Crumpton got out of the jam. He forced Khamari Gibbs to fly out and Keandre Rutledge to ground out to end the inning.

John Pettway came into pitch in the third inning for Keith. He gave up a single to Arrington, which drove in two runs and made it 7-0. Pettway stopped another run by running down Johnson before he could slide in safely at home.

The large Keith contingent on hand stood and cheered at the play and the Bears rewarded them with even more to cheer about in the fourth inning.

Pettway reached safely to start the inning. After stealing second and third, he scored Keith’s first run when Denzel Benjamin grounded out. Benjamin later scored on a wild throw to third base, pulling Keith within 7-2 after the top of the fourth.

Brandon Oliver scored on a wild pitch in the fourth and the Panthers closed the game out with four runs in the fifth.

Johnson scored on errors and two more runs came in when the ball got past Keith catcher Tyrone Lumpkin, who had trouble locating the ball. The final run was on a high throw to third base, which allowed Ruben Stover to score from third.

Keith hadn’t played baseball in over two decades because of financial concerns and because there was nobody to coach the team.

Lumpkin said his team was anxious Tuesday, but he expects better play as the team gets further into the season.

“We’ve got some guys that we know can hit the ball that got up there and got out of their character … trying to kill the ball instead of just making contact,” Lumpkin said.

Keith will play Calhoun Thursday, but Lumpkin said the schools were still trying to determine where that game would be played. Southside will play Selma Thursday at Bloch Park.