First Warren Central had to beat Clinton. If the Lady Vikes won by two runs or more, they would be division champs.

But that became problematic when the Lady Vikes entered the seventh inning tied with the Lady Arrows at 6. Only an out-of-the park, two-run homer or a two-run, ground-rule double could do that. Instead, the Lady Vikes had to settle for Chasity Hearn’s two-out, game-winning double to accomplish the first part of the mission, a thrilling 7-6 win at Lucy Young Field Tuesday night. Hearn’s hit to right center scored Mandy Fuller and, when Fuller stepped on home plate, the game was over.

The result left both teams tied in the Division 3-5A race at 3-1 and tied in the top tiebreaker, runs scored margin, at a run apiece, thanks to Clinton’s 4-3 win earlier in the season. The only way to resolve homefield advantage for the start of the Class 5A playoffs was to flip a coin.

Fuller called heads and the Lady Vikes came up aces. They will be at home Saturday with Southaven and Madison Central coming in for a double elimination tournament.

“I wasn’t going to call it at all,” WC coach Dana McGivney said of the coin flip. “I usually go tails, anyhow.”

“We’re division champs,” screamed an excited Lady Vike sophomore centerfielder Sydnei Smith, who had a big game both in the field and at the plate. She started the Lady Vikes off with an inside-the-park home run in the first inning. She then made a running catch to prevent a Clinton run in the second and gunned down a potential Clinton run at the plate in the fourth.

Hearn had her second game-winning hit in two days. However, the one that beat Clinton will probably be more memorable for her.

“I just saw the ball on that one,”said Hearn, the younger sister to WC senior pitcher Andi Hearn. “I’ve just been watching the ball a lot better.”

After hitting the ball well for four innings, the Lady Vikes (14-6, 3-1) kept heading back to the dugout disappointed as Clinton reliever Molly Tyner took control of the game after replacing Ann Kate Jackson with no outs in the fourth. WC had knocked Jackson out with five straight hits, including an RBI triple by Blair Thornton and a RBI single by Smith that gave the Lady Vikes a 6-4 lead.

Tyner, however, would retire 11 of the next 12 Lady Vikes she faced, five coming by strikeout. The lone blemish, was a fifth inning single from Mallory Reynolds.

“The second pitcher (Tyner) was a lot faster than the first one (Jackson),” Hearn said. “She had a lot more movement.”

With two out in the bottom of the seventh, Fuller singled up the middle to give Chasity Hearn a chance.

She belted a gapper that easily scored Fuller for the win.

Clinton coach Kevin Griffin was proud of the job Tyner did but also credited WC’s bats.

“No one has worked harder for us than Molly has. She did a great job bringing us back into the game. You just have to credit Warren Central. They hit the ball well,” Griffin said.

Clinton hit it well, too. The Lady Arrows had 13 hits against Andi Hearn, including two triples and a double. WC had 10 hits, with Smith, Chasity Hearn and Reynolds getting two each.

Smith’s homer gave WC a 1-0 lead after one. It went to 3-0 after Clinton committed a pair of errors to chase home a pair of runs. Clinton struck for four runs in the third off five hits. WC came back with three runs in the fourth to go up 6-4. Clinton then scored a run each in the fifth and sixth to tie the game at 6.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com