For a while, it looked as if the Person Rockets were going to let the Chapel Hill Tigers off the hook too many times.

The Rockets let some good scoring opportunities slip by the board in the early innings and fell behind 1-0 before a four-run fourth propelled them to a 6-1 Piedmont Athletic Conference softball triumph over the Tigers Thursday afternoon at the Person High School Field.

The win helped Person keep pace with Riverside and remain tied for first place in the conference at 5-1 (7-4 overall). Chapel Hill dropped to 3-5 overall and 3-3 in the PAC-6.

Rocket head coach Mike Shotwell said he was getting concerned after his team squandered chances to score in the second and third frames and allowed Chapel Hill to take the lead in the top of the fourth.

“About that time I was a little worried. We’d hit the ball hard and hadn’t scored — had nothing to show for it,” said Shotwell. “Often times that can translate into the other team winning the game. I’ve seen it happen enough.”

But it wouldn’t happen on this day.

With the help of some sloppy play in the field by the visitors, the Rockets tallied four times in the fourth to forge ahead for good, 4-1.

Chelsea Wrenn led off with a single and Jennifer Bowen drew a walk to put two runners on. After Carrie Albert lined out to left field, Melissa Harris walked to load the bases and that’s when the Tigers got careless.

An errant throw back to the pitcher allowed Wrenn to score to tie the game, and Bowen and Harris came across on an error for a 3-1 lead. Jordan Rhew then drove in Meghan Lay for the fourth tally.

“They made some mistakes and we took advantage of them,” Shotwell said.

Chapel Hill broke a scoreless tie in the top of the fourth on Rachel Harrsion’s RBI single.

Person ace Brittany Shotwell won her sixth game, going the distance and fanning 16 of the 26 hitters she faced.

On the other side, Tiger pitcher Debbie Goldbach had to gut it out for six innings. She walked six and gave up eight hits. By the middle innings, she was noticeably having problems with her shoulder but remained in the game despite the discomfort.

Person added insurance runs in the fifth and sixth innings.

Wrenn singled with one out and eventually came around on an error in the fifth, and an infield pop up by Shotwell was allowed to drop and the Rockets scored as a result for their sixth-inning run.

Coach Shotwell acknowledged that it was another important victory for his team, which has won five of its last six contests.

“We hit the ball well today, but many line shots were right at their defense. When we wait for strikes to hit, we hit the ball hard,” he observed. “We played good defense but we really didn’t have to make many plays with Brittany striking out 16 batters. Erica [Reaves] had a good day [making a nice catch of a bunted pop up in the sixth]. It was a good win.”

Person had several runners on base in the opening three innings but couldn’t break through until the fourth.

After defeating Hillside on Friday, Person, now 6-1 in the conference, hosts Southern Durham on Tuesday at 5 p.m.