[10/5/04]Warren Central and Cleveland have played several close games this season. On Monday, Cleveland picked a bad time to go cold right when the Lady Vikes started heating up again.

The result was an 11-0 blowout victory for WC, ending after five innings by the mercy rule.

The Lady Vikes (19-7) broke out of their recent funk at the plate with 13 hits, and they also benefited from eight errors by the Lady Wildcats (19-9). Amanda Doyle started three innings with a leadoff hit, and Tiffany Fuller, Cookie Johnson and Anna Jones each had a pair of hits for WC.

“We’ve been in a hitting slump,” said WC coach Lucy Young, whose team had been held to 12 runs in three games against Cleveland at the Cleveland Tournament on Sept. 18.

“We’ve done enough to get by in some games, but I was really pleased to see this. Hopefully, they’ll get some confidence that the bats can work.”

The Lady Wildcats had six runners reach base and none advanced past second base.

“Things really aren’t going well for us right now and we picked a really bad time in the season to start letting this happen,” Cleveland coach David Price said. “We’ve got to get back to work to try to get this thing turned around.”

Warren Central broke a 0-0 tie in the third inning with four runs on six hits as all 10 batters came to bat. Johnson and Lauren Anderson had back-to-back RBI singles, and Jones and pinch-hitter Kaci Harris each contributed RBI singles with two outs and the bases loaded.

“We linked together some hits, got runners in scoring position and then people came up with hits,” Young said. “We had been getting people on and needing that good base hit or that good long drive and not getting it.”

WC blew the game open with a seven-run fourth inning, in which 13 Lady Vikes came to the plate. Cleveland allowed only four hits and committed seven errors.

“We’re really pressing right now because we’re struggling so bad,” said Price, whose team won Division 3-3A and will host a playoff series on Thursday.