A late arrival to practice Thursday meant a late entrance for Warren Central’s Mandy Fuller Friday afternoon against St. Aloysius.

Fuller, though, made amends by hitting a game-winning, inside-the-park home run to lift the Lady Vikes to a 4-3 win in the first game of the Lady Vikes Invitational on Friday.

“I was late for practice and I didn’t get to hit, so today I had to hit two buckets of balls before I could play today,” Fuller said. She missed the first two innings and St. Al (3-1) took advantage grabbing an early 2-0 lead.

When Fuller, a two-time All-Warren County selection at catcher, entered in the third, she made a quick impact with a leadoff single. A one-out single by Andi Hearn moved Fuller to second and then she scored on Shawn Johnson’s hit up the middle that tied the game at 2.

Neither team scored in the fourth as WC pitcher Tiffany Fuller and St. Al hurler Sarah Franco recorded 1-2-3 innings. With the one-hour time-limit close to expiring, the extra-inning speed-up rule was put to use. St. Al’s last out in the fourth, Carrie Hattaway, was put on second and she was quickly sent in motion on Catelyn Park’s one-out bunt attempt. A bad throw, WC’s third of the game, allowed Hattaway to score easily to put St. Al up 3-2.

WC (4-5) started its half of the fifth with Tiffany Fuller on second. That brought up her sister, Mandy, facing her good friend and summer teammate in Franco. On a 1-1 pitch, Fuller pulled it hard down the line. Hattaway, who was playing in left for the Lady Flashes, couldn’t get over in time and the ball rolled to the fence. Both Fullers scored, giving the game to WC.

“I was hoping that ball might tail away from her,” Fuller said of the game-winning liner.

She said she was more surprised that Franco gave her a pitch she could pull.

“All the years we’ve been playing together, she should know that my favorite pitch is the inside fastball,” Fuller said. Fuller finished 2-for-2 with two runs and two RBI.

The loss was the first for Franco after three straight dominating wins in which she allowed no runs, only two hits and struck out 42. WC, a Class 5A team, had seven hits for the game, which included two hits from Hearn.

“It would’ve been good if we could’ve gone over to that ball but we also shouldn’t have given Mandy (Fuller) anything close to hit,” St. Al coach Gene Rogillio said

Tiffany Fuller got the win to even her record at 3-3. She overcame a sluggish start, throwing the ball away twice to hand the Lady Flashes a 2-0 lead. She struck out eight and allowed three hits.

Franco, Mallory McGuffie and K.K. DeRossette had hits for St. Al.

The Lady Flashes’ Friday night game with Mangham was postponed because of rain to this morning at 8:30.

WC 6, Mangham 0

Andi Hearn tossed a shutout as WC (5-5) won its second straight Friday in the Lady Vikes’ Invitational. The Lady Vikes scored two runs each in the first, second and fourth. Mandy Fuller and Sydnei Smith each had a hit for WC.

Vicksburg 6, Rayville 1

The Missy Gators (3-2) scored five in the first and then cruised past Rayville, La., Friday in the Lady Vikes’ Invitational. Kristi Shelby struck out four to get the win and improve to 3-2 on the season.

Lori Davies scored two runs and had a hit for VHS, which plays Greenville-St. Joe and Cleveland today.