[2/22/04]It was one of those days for Vicksburg High Saturday.

The sun was shining, birds were singing, spring was in the air and every ball it hit was right at somebody.

Northwest Rankin pitcher Kristi Vaughn went 2-for-3 with a pair of singles and an RBI, and scattered four hits over seven innings to help the Lady Cougars beat VHS 5-2 in the season-opener for both teams.

Shannon Arnold and Cherelle Stamps each had an RBI for Vicksburg, which didn’t advance a runner past second base until the sixth inning despite hitting the ball hard the entire game.

“I was real proud of the way they kept coming and kept hitting the ball at the end of the game. The bats are going to come around,” VHS coach Laquitta Smith said. “I think they all did real well. Plus, that girl they had was throwing the ball real well. That’s going to be a lot of what we see, so I’m not disappointed at all.”

Seventh-grader Kristi Shelby started in the circle for VHS and pitched well until faltering in the third inning. After allowing a leadoff single to Vaughn and getting the first out on a sacrifice bunt, Shelby walked the next four batters to force in a pair of runs. An error allowed another run to score and put the Lady Cougars ahead 3-0.

Shelby allowed one hit, five walks, and two earned runs in her first career start.

“We had some circumstances where my starting pitcher couldn’t start because of some medical problems, so we had to deal with that. And for Kristi to be a seventh-grader, she did an excellent, excellent job,” Smith said, referring to starting pitcher Whitney Smith. “Whitney is a senior this year, so (Shelby) is going to be it next year so she needs to start early. And she’ll pitch some more varsity games.”

Northwest added a pair of insurance runs in the fifth to stretch the lead to 5-0 before the Missy Gators finally put together a rally.

In the bottom of the sixth, VHS got its first two runners on base and plated them on an RBI groundout by Arnold and an RBI single by Stamps to cut it to 5-2.

“We went to sleep, I felt like. We kind of got back on the heels of our feet instead of staying on our toes and they took advantage of it,” Northwest coach Kandy Stringer said.

Vicksburg 8, Ridgeland 5

Shelby pitched five innings and struck out three as the Missy Gators won the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader.

Smith pitched the final two innings and did not allow a hit.

Seven different Missy Gators each had one single in the victory.

Vicksburg is scheduled to play at Terry on Tuesday.

St. Al 5, Sarepta, La. 3

Sarah Kerut went 3-for-4 with an RBI, two runs scored, and two stolen bases to lead St. Al to a win over Sarepta in its season-opener on Friday. Kerut was also the winning pitcher, allowing six hits and one walk while striking out 12.

Candice Park was 2-for-3 with two RBIs for the Lady Flashes, Caitlin Moak went 3-for-3, and Sarah Franco and Taylor George each drove in a run.