[3/21/04]St. Aloysius, one game removed from stunning host Warren Central, fell to Lawrence County in the championship game of the Lady Vikes Invitational on Saturday.

But even getting to the championship was a feat for the Class 1A Lady Flashes, who had never beaten Warren Central before.

“Beating Warren Central, that’s probably the highlight of our career right there,” St. Aloysius coach Gene Rogillio said.

St. Al’s Laura Beth Lyons and WC’s Lauren Anderson went toe-to-toe through seven innings, neither allowing a run.

Lyons gave up just two hits one each by Mandy Fuller and Tiffany Fuller and struck out seven to earn the win.

Anderson struck out 16, and gave up only two hits. One was Taylor George’s single in the sixth inning, and the other was Mary Myers Franco’s single in the eighth.

With the score tied 0-0 heading into the seventh and the hour time limit having expired, the international softball extra inning rule went into effect, meaning the last out of the previous inning took second base.

Neither the Lady Vikes nor Flashes scored in the seventh, and Warren Central failed to score in the eighth inning as well.

But in the bottom of the eighth, Kelsey Thompson, who had started the inning on second base, moved to third on Franco’s single and scored the game-winning run when Caitlin Moak reached on an error.

That victory set up the championship game matchup with Lawrence County and standout pitcher Kelly Stokes.

Stokes, a Delta State signee, tossed her third-no-hitter in the last four games, and the Lady Cougars took advantage of several St. Al errors for the mercy-rule win.

“It was a Goliath type deal,” Rogillio said. “Except David didn’t have a rock in his sling.”

The Lady Cougars scored one run in the first on one hit and an error, but they broke the game open with a big second inning. They batted around and scored six runs.

“We came around this time and hit the ball and put runners on base,” Lawrence County coach Beronica Stringfellow said.

In other games of the day, Vicksburg lost to Cleveland and Rayville for an eighth-place finish. After the loss to St. Al, WC was beaten by Crowville and finished fourth.