The hits were few and far between but not so for the strikeouts – at least for the first four innings.

Unbeaten Madison Central, however, finally got a handle on Warren Central pitcher Lauren Anderson during the third time through the lineup. The Lady Jaguars used a bases-clearing hit from Lacy Jacks to break open a scoreless game in the fifth inning.

Madison Central, last year’s Class 5A runner-up, went on to post a 6-0 win over the Lady Vikes and move to 6-0 on the season.

Through four innings, Anderson and her Lady Jaguar counterpart, Lindsey Perry, had combined to strike out 19 of the 31 batters faced. WC (2-2) had just four players reach base, three of which came off hits against the dominating Perry.

Anderson was nearly equal to the task, with the exception of the fifth and seventh innings. Madison Central scored three more in the seventh off a triple and two WC errors.

“Madison Central is just loaded,” WC coach Lucy Young said. “I was real proud of our girls for playing as well as they did against such a top program. Lauren did a great job. We were in it until they got a couple of breaks.”

Madison Central coach Ashley Hicks said the Lady Vikes provided her team with one of its toughest tests of the season.

“It’s one of the best games we’ve had and we needed this because we play Oak Grove on Friday,” Hicks said. Oak Grove beat Madison Central in three games for the 5A title last May. “It took a little longer than normal for our girls to get to their pitcher.”

Anderson finished with 11 strikeouts. In the fifth, Madison Central got a leadoff hit from Rachel Morris. WC had a chance to get Morris out when she strayed too far on a fielder’s choice but the rundown throw was dropped, allowing her to get back to second, safely.

Following a walk to Jamie Myrick, Jacks ripped a hit into right, scoring Morris and Nicole Fullilove. Myrick was also able to come in after the ball slipped past the WC rightfielder, giving Madison a 3-0 lead.

The Madison seventh saw WC commit two more errors to go with an RBI triple from Brittany Wright that made it 6-0.

Perry gave up a two-out hit to Mandy Fuller in the seventh but then got Anna Jones to pop up to finish the game.

Perry allowed three hits, one single each by each of the Fuller sisters. She struck out 12 and walked none.

Tiffany Fuller had two hard-hit balls against Perry, including a leadoff single in the first. The other was a line-out shot to third. Brittany Fuller had WC’s other hit in the third.

Wright led Madison with a 2-for-4 effort. Jacks knocked in two while Fullilove and Myrick scored twice.

Warren Central will be off until Friday when it hosts the eight-team WC Invitational at Lady Vikes Field.