Runners left stranded and two ill-timed lunges hurt Vicksburg in the finals of the Lady Vikes Invitational Slow-Pitch Softball Tournament Saturday afternoon at Lucy Young Field.

The Missy Gators outhit Cathedral 14-8 but left 14 runners on base, including 10 in scoring position and lost 5-2 to the Green Waves in the championship game.

Despite the loss, Vicksburg coach Michelle Fisackerly said her team made strides during the long day. The Missy Gators finished 2-1 to even their season record at 3-3.

“It’s been a good day. We came out this morning and beat Hazlehurst 6-5 in extra innings and that was a plus for us, because we had played them in a pre-season game and they had beaten us 18-9. We get Cathedral in the final and that’s a team that beat us 26-3 last year. Today it was 5-2 and had it not been for a couple of misplayed balls we would’ve been right there. But I couldn’t be prouder of how well, overall, we played today,” Fisackerly said.

Cathedral (6-1) made good use of two balls hit to left field that got by Vicksburg outfielder Kelli Brewer after she mistimed her jump to the ball. Both hits rolled to the fence, resulting in inside-the-park home runs for the Waves’ Beth Fortenberry and Melissa Cavin. Cavin’s homer was good for three runs and a 5-0 lead.

“We didn’t hit the ball like I would’ve liked but we got the big hits when we needed them,” Cathedral coach Gary Blackwell said.

Claire Ray capped a good day at the plate with two hits against Cathedral. She finished with six hits in the tournament and four runs scored. Blake DeRossette had a single and a triple but it wasn’t until the seventh inning when Vicksburg finally got on the board.

The Missy Gators left two in scoring position in the first and second and then left the bases full in third getting nothing out of seven hits. DeRossette’s triple went for naught in the fifth and a runner was thrown out at the plate in the sixth. In the seventh, Brewer and Lea Davies had back-to-back triples to produce a run. Faith Thomas had a two-out RBI hit to make it 5-2.

VHS 10, St. Aloysius 2

The Missy Gators used a six-run first inning to beat St. Al and win its pool in the WC Invitational.

Two-run singles by Lea Davies and Sydney Bufkin keyed the inning. The Lady Flashes (0-5) had four errors in the inning to help out.

St. Al got its run in the bottom half of the inning when Brittany Turner and Haley Heggins scored off an error and a fielder’s choice by Madison Heggins.

Vicksburg added to its lead with a run in the second and three in the fourth. Ray finished with two hits and three runs scored. Davies had two hits, two runs scored and two RBI.

Cathedral 5, WC 2

WC coach Lucy Young can’t remember the last time her Lady Vikes did not make the final of their own tournament.

“I had hoped we would’ve hit the ball better than we did,” Young said. “This hurts not making the final of our own tournament.”

Cathedral knocked out the Lady Vikes (2-4) in pool play after Ginny Daggett smashed a three-run inside-the-park home run to snap a 2-2 tie in the bottom of the fifth inning.

Cathedral held WC scoreless in the sixth to advance to the finals against Vicksburg. The Lady Vikes trailed 2-0 for much of the game before tying it with two runs in the fifth off an error and an RBI fielder’s choice from Audrianna Ratliff.

VHS 6, Hazlehurst 5

Blake DeRossette scored the game-winning run in the sixth inning to lift the Missy Gators to a pool play win. Claire Ray had a triple, single and two runs scored for Vicksburg. Hazlehurst came back to beat St. Al 5-1 to close its tournament at 1-1.

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Contact Jeff Byrd at jbyrd@vicksburgpost.com