Lady Vikes roll over Greenville
Published 11:54 am Friday, March 25, 2011
A late-inning loss to Vicksburg and a 13-run loss to Madison Central left Warren Central searching for answers.
Greenville-Weston might not have provided the solutions, but it did supply the Lady Vikes with two easy wins and a berth in the Class 6A playoffs. Warren Central rolled to doubleheader sweep of the Honey Bees, 20-0 and 16-0, Thursday afternoon at Lucy Young Field.
Lady Vikes coach Dana McGivney was glad to get the sweep and hopes her team can finish its five-game homestand on a good note. Warren Central (7-4, 2-1 Division 4-6A) hosts Terry on Monday and then gets a rematch with division rival Vicksburg next Thursday.
Warren Central needs to beat Vicksburg by at least three runs to win the division championship.
“We needed to have a little more fun and work together as a team,” McGivney said after the wins, which both ended via the mercy rule after the third inning. “Greenville tried hard. They are all pretty young and if they stay together they can get better. It’s always nice to get two wins and even better that both of them come in the division.”
Sophomore Megan McCullough had a big hand in the first game with a bases-clearing triple that keyed a 19-run first inning. In game two, she pitched three innings of no-hit ball and struck out five batters to earn the victory.
She hopes the easy wins can help Warren Central’s confidence.
“We know we can do it,” McCullough said. “We seem to get nervous against the better teams and that leads to errors that winds up costing us runs. Our mechanics get bad and we do bad. Today, we didn’t get nervous. I know we can do this against the better teams.”
The Lady Vikes feasted on the weak pitching from the Honey Bees. They batted around twice in the bottom of the first inning in game one, with 17 of the 18 baserunners scoring. Greenville’s Jennifer Johnson issued 13 walks, hit a batter and gave up six hits in the 19-run outburst.
Chasity Hearn had a pair of two-run doubles in the inning, while McCullough had her triple to go with a walk and two runs scored.
Chelsea Worley retired all nine batters faced, with seven coming on strikeouts.
In game two, seventh-grader Raylee Barwick had a two-run double as the Lady Vikes finished the sweep. Krista Cortezie had a triple and scored three runs, while Lawren Boolos had a double and scored three runs.