Rain wasn’t the only thing that was falling at Lucy Young Field Tuesday evening. For Northwest Rankin, there was a torrent of hits and runs in an 18-0, run-rule and rain-shortened romp at WC.

The Lady Cougars (5-5) had 14 hits and five players scored at least three runs each. For WC coach Lucy Young, the loss will have to serve as a tune-up for this Saturday’s Lady Vikes Slow-Pitch Invitational at Young Field.

“Had this come in at 4 o’clock, we could’ve called it off,” Young said, as the rain came in streams. “They said it would come in at 6 and here it is at 6, and its coming in. Before then, it looked like it was going all around us. Northwest got here at 4 and we opted to play the varsity first.”

Northwest scored in every inning, building a 12-0 lead after four. The Lady Cougars added six more in the fifth as the rain began to fall harder. The game would’ve had to have been called after the fifth regardless of the score.

The one thing that Young did see was that her outfield must play better.

“We need to be more confident in the outfield. We can’t let fear overtake us by not coming up and letting the ball fall in for hits. It’s a brand new group out there, but they need to play with confidence,” Young said.

The Lady Vikes (3-2) will get that chance on Saturday when they host the six-team tournament. The teams have been divided into two pools. WC will have Yazoo City and Hazlehurst in its pool. The first game starts at 8:30 a.m. and pits WC against Yazoo City.

Vicksburg High will have Greenville-Weston and Natchez Cathedral in its pool. The Missy Gators open play at 9:45 a.m. against Cathedral. The two pool winners will meet in the championship game at 4:15 p.m.

Tuesday’s loss to Northwest was the Lady Vikes’ second in a row. They lost last Thursday to Lawrence County.

“We made nine errors in that game. It was 5-5 and they came back with two out in the sixth,” Young said.

Against Northwest, WC had just three hits. Blair Thornton, Krista Cortezie and Anna Griffing all had singles.

Northwest was led by Kristine Patterson with two hits, including a double, and three runs scored. Donna Perry added two hits and three runs scored.