For as long as there has been softball at Warren Central, there have been two fixtures at Lady Vikes Field.

Lucy Young has coached WC’s slow-pitch team for more than a quarter-century and guided the fast-pitch program since its inception in 2000. She’s never had a losing season in fast-pitch.

And then there’s Lauren Anderson, who has played nearly every game in the fast-pitch program’s history. The senior started pitching for the Lady Vikes as a seventh-grader and amassed 78 wins in a stellar high school career.

Anderson will finally be moving on, having graduated and signed to play for Meridian Community College next season. Young will soldier on, trying to replace two senior pitchers and keep the program running smoothly.

Before that, however, they can celebrate the best fast-pitch season in school history and a pair of postseason awards. Anderson, who went 16-6 this season, and Young, who guided the Lady Vikes to a 24-7 record and the South State finals for the first time, have been selected as the Vicksburg Post’s softball Player and Coach of the Year, respectively.

“It means the world to me,” Anderson said of receiving the award. “It’s a big honor to get something like this.”

If it seems like Anderson’s been around for a long time, it’s because she has.

She first stepped onto Lady Vikes Field as a wide-eyed seventh-grader with only a summer of pitching experience under her belt. Young, seeing some potential and the reality of a bumpy start, handed the keys to the program to Anderson and put her in the circle.

Anderson never disappointed.

She had 69 strikeouts that first season – the only time she’s ever finished with under 100 – and helped WC to a 10-8 record in a division that included juggernauts Madison Central and Clinton.

Anderson had her best season in 2002, going 22-4 with 217 strikeouts and a 0.86 ERA. That was also the year the Lady Vikes reached the playoffs for the first time, beating Clinton to win the Division 6-5A title.

“That was the best year, because we had a lot of young people and they all stepped up. Nobody got down on each other,” Anderson said.

Young was also learning in the program’s early years. She said she knew little about fast-pitch when the inaugural season started, and had to adapt her thinking from the hitter-oriented slow-pitch game.

“We hung in there, took those lumps our first two years, and learned a lot about the game,” Young said. “I had to learn everything about the game. I had never played fast-pitch or coached fast-pitch.”

Anderson wrapped up her career in fine style. With the Lady Vikes’ offense struggling, she put the team on her back and kept them in games long enough to take advantage of opponents’ mistakes.

In the stretch run to the playoffs, Anderson won four of her last five starts – including three playoff games. She had 40 strikeouts in those four games, allowed 13 hits and walked none while getting little run support.

The Lady Vikes scored just eight runs in the four victories and were no-hit in one of them. That was just the kind of atmosphere Anderson thrived on.

“I worried coach Young a little this year, because I told her I loved it when we had the bases loaded and one out. And I think I did that a couple of times,” Anderson said with a laugh. “I love to be challenged.”

Coaching this year’s team was a challenge and a joy for Young.

She had only five seniors on the roster, including Anderson, center fielder Cookie Johnson and pitcher Brittany Fuller. All contributed mightily to the Lady Vikes’ run, but the overall youth of the team forced it to manufacture runs.

“We took advantage of other people’s mistakes. Base running and getting ready were big for us,” Young said. “We plated people and scored runs without any offensive skills. We had people who were smart on the basepaths, had good speed and a good sense of the game.”

The strong pitching of Anderson and Fuller helped, too. Now Young will have to learn to live and coach without them – something that will be harder to do off the field than on, she said.

“It’s been like, here’s Lauren. She’s been the first one out here every day, the first one through the field house door. That’s something you’ll miss,” Young said. “But she’s on to bigger and better things.”