[04/19/02]Kala Watkins ssssssss-shushed top-ranked Warren Central’s bats Thursday afternoon, but she and Starkville didn’t kill the Lady Vikes’ confidence.

The No. 5 Lady Jackets (21-4) took advantage of five errors to win the second-round playoff opener, 6-0, at WC. And they get to go home Saturday to try to clinch the best-of-three series and end the Lady Vikes’ season. If WC (25-3) wins the 1:30 p.m. game, the deciding game will immediately follow.

Even though the odds seem stacked against them, the Lady Vikes were upbeat when they left the field. Perhaps it’s because most of them were playing on the 2000 slow-pitch team that went to Madison Central in a similar situation, won both games and advanced to the final four of the state tournament.

“I was thinking about that,” WC catcher Katie Barnett said. “We know it can be done.

“It’s just one game … This will wake us up and make us get in gear.”

The Lady Vikes, who had won nine in a row, will have to play better defense, though, WC coach Lucy Young said.

“We were playing toe-to-toe with them from the beginning … but our infield defense just had too many errors,” she said. “It wasn’t just one person, it was all over the infield.”

Watkins, who makes a loud hissing sound as she releases the ball, kept the Lady Vikes off balance with a nasty dropball and changeup. She had nine strikeouts and no walks in the five-hit shutout, her eighth of the year.

“I’m just breathing,” she said of the sound she makes, adding that it wasn’t meant to intimidate opponents.

Three times, WC’s leadoff batters reached base only to be stranded.

The Lady Jackets didn’t get to WC pitcher Lauren Anderson until late in the game. She struck out nine, walked two, hit one and gave up eight hits.

Starkville went up 2-0 on three errors in the fifth. After a leadoff hit and another error in the sixth, the Lady Jackets got three straight two-out hits RBI singles by Cristina Sharp and Watkins and a two-run backbreaker by Shela Runnels to put it away.

“Once we got two, I felt pretty good about it,” Watkins said.

No. 8 batter Keisha Blue (2-for-3) was the only Lady Vike with multiple hits. Mimi Atkins and Watkins had two hits apiece for Starkville in a game that had only a handfall of balls leave the outfield.

Both pitchers got out of jams in the third, but Watkins’ defense was steady behind her.

Young said her players were prepared; they just didn’t execute.

“We probably had eight scouting reports,” she said. “We even knew about their cheers, the way (Watkins) hisses, the way they slap their gloves on the ground before every inning … we prepared for everything. There were no surprises only we didn’t come with our best defensive game.”

Starkville coach Windy Gibson, on the other hand, said she didn’t know a lot about WC coming into the game.

“Kala threw a great mix of pitches … and we finally got our timing down with our bats” in the sixth inning, she said. Starkville, in its sixth season of fast-pitch, lost to Madison Central in a three-game first-round series loss last year. Gibson said she hopes that experience helps her team handle its situation better this time.

WC, in its third year of fast-pitch, did not make the playoffs last year.

“It’s hard to win two on the road,” Young said. “We just have to wipe the slate clean and start over Saturday.”

Enterprise 7, St. Al 6

Four errors on one play cost the Lady Flashes (16-5) their second-round playoff opener at Enterprise-Lincoln.

They’ll have to win a doubleheader at Bazinsky Field Saturday to stay alive in the best-of-three series. The opener is at 1 p.m. and the deciding game, if necessary, will follow.

Tied 2-2 with two outs and the bases loaded in the third, the Lady Bulldogs (10-8) hit a ground ball. After a series of bad throw, four runs scored and the home team held on as St. Al scored four in the final two innings.

Nicole Floyd allowed five hits and got the win, while Laura Beth Lyons (10-2) struck out six, walked five and allowed five hits in the loss.

Kelly Haden tripled, Candice Park had two RBIs and Stephanie Evans drove in a run for St. Al.