Lady Vikes confident as playoffs start

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, October 17, 2001

[10/17/01]Warren Central breezed past the first test on its road to the South State championship.

Now, the road gets much bumpier.

After beating Wayne County (7-9) in back-to-back games, 11-1 and 12-5 on Tuesday, the Lady Vikes (26-6) learned they will have to travel to defending Class 5A state champion Moss Point on Saturday.

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The Lady Tigers (29-7) swept Biloxi, also on Tuesday.

“We’re going to have to be on our best game,” said WC coach Lucy Young, whose team lost to Moss Point in the final four of the state tournament last year. “We know a little more about Moss Point and have seen them play. Moss Point is a very solid team.”

The Lady Vikes fell behind Wayne County 1-0 in the first inning of the first game, but reeled off 11 straight runs to end the game in five innings.

They then opened the second game by scoring eight runs in the first two innings, then survived five errors.

“We have to eliminate the errors we made and we made far too many,” Young said. “They were basic fundamental errors and we should be far above that.”

All the errors, though, in the second game came after the Lady Vikes built the big lead.

Six of the first seven batters reached base, thanks to three hits and a pair of Wayne County errors. Ashley Chaney, who had four hits and two RBIs in the doubleheader, had an RBI double in the opener.

Marilyn Landers had a pair of singles, a triple and an RBI, while Cookie Johnson had three hits and an RBI, Anna Mitchell had three singles, a double and an RBI and winning pitcher Hayley Martin had four singles and an RBI. Lauren Anderson, who played in the second game, had a single, double and an RBI.

“We are a real young team,” said Wayne County coach Crisla Herchenhahn, whose team had never won more than three games in a season. “We figured if we took care of what we were supposed to, we could make the necessary adjustments.”

The Lady Eagles were led by Cartier Powe’s three hits.

They pulled to within 8-3 on a two-RBI single in the bottom of the second by Jeanne Howard, but managed two more runs in the sixth inning after Warren Central took a 12-3 lead.

In the opener, the Lady Vikes led 4-1 at the end of the first, then scored seven in the bottom of the fifth to end the game.

Martin scattered 10 hits in the two games to earn both wins.

“We hit the ball as hard as I’ve ever seen us hit,” Young said. “But their defense was playing so deep, they were getting to a lot of the long balls. …It’s hard to fuss at them about that. We need to hit it in a way where it’s more of a line shot.”