DANVILLE — For a few brief, fleeting moments, the unbeaten Milton Black Panthers found themselves looking up at a scoreboard showing, for the first time this season, that they were not winning. Shocking as it may have been, it didn’t last for long.

Trailing 2-1 with two outs in the top of the second inning, No. 9 hitter Melissa Balliet’s line-drive double into the gap in left center plated Amy Neitz and Brittany Hoffman for the go-ahead runs in the Black Panthers’ 7-2 Susquehanna Valley League victory over Danville on Thursday afternoon.

Milton standout hurler Nicole Smith, rattled in the first inning for three hits and two runs by the Ironmen, returned to top form in the second — and the rest of the game — scattering four hits with no more runs, and punching four of her six strikeouts.

“Danville hit the ball and we didn’t play well today,” Milton coach Bill Keefer said of his now 10-0 (overall and SVL) Black Panthers. “Nicole struggled a bit with location. But she threw strikes, and when they put the ball in play we got them out.”

Aly Hoover started Milton’s four-run, second-inning rally by reaching on an error. She was thrown out on a 5-4 fielder’s choice that allowed No. 6 hitter Jordan Frederick to reach base. With two outs, No. 7 hitter Neitz walked and Frederick scored on Hoffman’s single past second base, cutting Danville’s lead in half. Balliet’s double added two more runs, and an error in the infield allowed her to score for a quick scoreboard reversal, and a 4-2 Milton lead.

Keefer, understandably pleased with his squad’s lower-lineup production, said: “All of those girls have been hitting all year. They gave us some good, strong at-bats.”

Earlier in that inning, Danville (5-5 overall and SVL) appeared to have escaped with only one run allowed, when pitcher Carrie Mensch landed a 1-2 fastball on the outside of the plate against Hoffman. The umpire hesitated, then called the pitch a ball, much to the chagrin of the Ironmen fans, players, and coaches. Hoffman fouled off the next pitch, then singled home Frederick, and Milton never looked back.

“When we had the lead (our team) got nervous,” Danville coach Dwayne Heeter said. “They didn’t expect that, and they didn’t know how to react.”

The Black Panthers added two more runs in the fourth, as Balliet and Kelly Pfleegor scored after reaching on an error and single, respectively. Smith added the final run in the seventh when she scored on a Frederick single.

Mensch battled her way through the tough Milton lineup all afternoon, allowing11 hits and seven runs with three strikeouts. Five Ironmen errors loomed large in increasing Milton’s lead to the final 7-2 margin.

In the first, Mensch blasted a grounder up the middle to plate Josie Pervola, putting Danville ahead 1-0. Katie Mazol smacked the first of her two hits, a bouncing single to third base, and the late throw to first allowed Courtney Zampetti to score for a 2-0 Ironmen lead. With two outs, Smith settled down to fan Autumn Albertson to end the inning, and the Ironmen were unable to touch her from that point on.

“We’ve been concentrating a lot on hitting,” Heeter said. “We hit (Smith’s) mistakes on changeups and fastballs. I thought our team played focused ball. We waited for good pitches in the strike zone.”

“(Even in defeat) we have a lot to build on.”