MALDEN — On the bus ride to Malden yesterday afternoon, Beverly High softball coach Megan Sudak purposely didn't tell her team their first round opponent in the Division 1 North state tournament was the No. 3 seed.

But she did mention that all the pressure would be on Malden High.

Never mind that the visiting Panthers were seeded 11 spots lower than their hosts; the Panthers came ready to play and knocked off the Golden Tornadoes, 3-2 at Callahan Field.

"The girls knew their record was 17-3, but honestly nobody expected us to do anything. So I told them the team feeling the pressure was Malden," said Sudak.

"This is my first tournament win as a coach and it feels good, especially since we were 4-16 last year."

Malden freshman sensation Kiara Amos and Northeastern Conference Large MVP Kristen Lojko of Beverly (14-7) went head-to-head in a pitcher's duel. While the Tornadoes nicked Lojko for a couple of triples, the Panthers relied on small ball to push runs across. Four of their six hits were bunt singles, two by speedy leadoff hitter Brenna Bailey.

"It was great to get our bats going, and while all of them were singles, we were able to bunt to get runners on," said Sudak. "Bunting is such a big part of our game and when I saw how soft the field was (because of recent rainfall), I was worried that would be taken away. But we laid down some perfect ones."

Lojko scattered seven hits and one walk while striking out five for the win. Amos allowed six singles and three free passes while fanning six.

The Panthers took a 1-0 lead in the top of the second and managed to stay on top the rest of the way. After Kellie Shea walked and took second on a wild pitch, Monica Cassola worked a two-out walk to set the stage for Marina Babcock, who delivered an infield hit to plate Shea.

The Panthers added two more runs in the fourth to take a 3-0 lead, capitalizing on a pair of Malden errors.

Kiki McKenna hit a one-out single to center and Courtney Brennan beat out a well-placed bunt in front of the plate. Malden catcher Emily Hoffman threw the ball over the first baseman's head on the play, allowing McKenna to take third, and she came home on Cassola's ground out. Ashley Chalifour, who was pinch running for Brennan, also scored on the play when the first baseman's throw over to third was wild.

Malden chipped away at the lead, getting on the board in the fourth when Amos tripled to deep right-center and scored on Rebecca Krigman's bunt single. But the Panthers got out of the inning without further damage when catcher Courtney Chalifour threw out Rebecca Krigman trying to steal second.

"Amos hit an outside curve; she got the whole ball on that one," said Lojko. She is also one of the better pitchers we've seen this year, but we were able to put the ball in play."

Kristina Dyer tripled to lead off the Malden fifth and came home on an overthrow from the outfield, cutting Beverly's lead to one. And the Greater Boston champs didn't go quietly, leaving the tying run at third and the go-ahead run on second in the bottom of the seventh.

"I think we like to make things interesting," said Sudak.

While both teams had trouble making plays on the wet field, the Panthers came up with several nifty defensive plays, led by first baseman Daryl Powell. She stabbed a hot shot off the bat of Dyer to end the second inning with two runners on base and robbed Krigman of extra bases in the sixth. Brennan made a couple of spectacular catches in center to prevent runs from scoring as well.

Bailey led the offense with two hits while Gallione, McKenna, Brennan, and Babcock also hit safely. The Panthers now await the winner of the Boston Latin-Newton North game that will be played today.