Vicksburg High catcher Heather Pritchard waits for St. Andrew’s runner Eleanore Hanlon during a rundown in the fourth inning of the Missy Gators’ 8-4 loss to the Lady Saints. Hanlon was eventually safe at home. (Melanie Duncan ThortisThe Vicksburg Post)

[9/17/03]Vicksburg High squandered an early lead and wilted under St. Andrew’s hitting barrage Tuesday evening, falling to the Lady Saints 8-4 at Halls Ferry Park.

Cherrell Stamps had two hits for Vicksburg (2-13), but St. Andrew’s overcame an early 3-0 deficit by scoring eight runs in the fourth and fifth innings.

“We’ve done it probably 10 times,” VHS coach Laquitta Smith said of the wasted lead. “We probably should technically have lost only four games all year. But we have given games away.”

VHS led 3-0 heading into the top of the fourth, but the Lady Saints (12-2) tied the game with three runs in the inning. In the fifth, three extra-base hits keyed a five-run rally that put St. Andrew’s ahead for good.

Laci McCullough started things off with a one-out triple, and scored on an RBI double by Katherine Nicholas that put the Lady Saints ahead 4-3. RBI singles from Parry VanLandingham and Eleanore Hanlon kept the rally going, and Amanda Chatham followed with an RBI triple to make it 7-3.

Chatham then scored on Julia Bennett’s single to cap the rally.

“A lot of our games, we play on big baseball fields and we’ll burn some outfielders … This field here is a smaller field, and their outfielders did a good job of covering the area. Anything with a hump in it, they were catching,” St. Andrew’s coach Mark Fanning said. “We just had to get the ball out of the air and line drive it in front. The one big inning we had, our hitters did a good job of doing that.”

Vicksburg had a chance to come back in the bottom of the sixth, but managed only one run after loading the bases with one out.

Heather Shelby started the brief rally with a one-out double, D.J. Hill reached on an error and Amy Harigill followed with a walk to load the bases.

St. Andrew’s pitcher Jennifer Whatley got Claiborne Bryant out with a run-scoring groundout, however, then got Kelli Ouzts to ground out to short to end the inning.

The Missy Gators had two runners on in the seventh, but never seriously threatened.

“It seems like our bats died at an inappropriate time,” Smith said.

NW Rankin 10, WC 9

Lauren Anderson’s three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning gave Warren Central a 9-9 tie, but Northwest Rankin came back in the bottom of the eighth to take the win.

With Candice McKay on second base to start the eighth inning, Anna Jones hit a deep fly ball for an out. McKay tagged up, but was called out at third.

Northwest Rankin scored immediately in the bottom of the eighth to take the victory.

Cookie Johnson led Warren Central’s offense with three hits, including a home run, and two RBIs. Anderson had two hits and three RBIs and Tiffany Fuller a pair of hits in the loss.

Warren Central scored in five of the eight innings and recorded 14 hits.

Warren Central (8-6) is scheduled to host Clinton on Thursday at 5:30 p.m.