BILOXI After two years of early-round success in the Class 5A playoffs, Warren Central was forced to deal with an early exit at the hands of Biloxi on Wednesday.

Biloxi pitcher Christia Gibson singled and scored the winning run on a sacrifice fly in the bottom of the eighth inning as the Division 8-5A champions won 1-0 in the third and deciding game of the best-of-3, first-round playoff series.

The senior also pitched all three games of the series, improving her overall mark to 15-5, same as the Lady Indians.

“I didn’t expect the game to come down to me,” Gibson said. “When I got on second base, I was hoping my teammates would come through.”

They did.

With one out in the eighth, Gibson reached on an infield single and advanced to second base after a Lady Vike throwing error. She went to third on Patrice Parker’s single and scored on Brittany Bosarge’s sacrifice fly to end the game.

“We like to make them exciting,” Biloxi coach Tommy Johnson said. “We don’t give up. We’ve played in too many close games this year. There’s character in this team.”

Warren Central coach Lucy Young made no excuses for the Lady Vikes’ first-round exit. It’s the first time since 1999 that the Lady Vikes have failed to make it past the first round, a run that includes a North State championship in 2000.

“It was an evenly-matched game that went down to the wire,” Young said. “We had every opportunity to win and hoped we’d get something started. Biloxi made the plays. Everything is crucial in a game like this.”

WC will lose eight seniors off of this year’s team, including six starters.

“That happens every year. Sometimes you just lose more,” Young said. “Every year, and this will be 27 years next year, you just start over, regardless.”

A three-run first inning enabled the Lady Indians to win game one, 5-1.

Cassie White’s two-run double was the biggest hit in the inning as Biloxi took a 3-0 lead. Harmony Dedeaux drove in the other run with a fielder’s choice.

Warren Central (17-10) scored its only run in the fourth inning on Trancye People’s fielder’s choice, cutting the deficit to 3-1. The Lady Indians then put the game away with Natalie Parker’s RBI single in the fourth inning and an unearned run in the fifth.

WC’s bats woke up in the second game to win 4-3 and force the deciding game.

Biloxi took a 1-0 first inning lead on Brittney Allen’s RBI single in game two, but the Lady Vikes scored twice in their half of the first to lead 2-0. Cookie Johnson accounted for both runs, driving in the first with an RBI triple and scoring the second on a fielder’s choice.

Keisha Blue’s third-inning RBI single pushed the margin to 3-1, but Biloxi answered with Rilee White’s RBI single in the fourth to cut it to 3-2.

WC added another run in the fourth on Lyn Strawn’s sacrifice fly, but Biloxi made it interesting in the sixth as Dedeaux scored after hitting a triple.