South Panola, come on down! You are the first-round playoff opponent for Vicksburg High!

Following a series of rainouts that extended the regular season by two days, and a four-way tie that wasn’t settled until the last round of division games was played Wednesday night, the Vicksburg Gators finally learned this morning that they’ll head to South Panola for their Class 6A playoff opener Friday night at 6.

The uncertainty has made for a long week of contingency planning and preparation for the Gators (14-9), who wrapped up the No. 2 seed from Division 3-6A a week ago and have been waiting to find out their opponent ever since.

“You just have to look at every scenario,” Vicksburg coach Ryan Grey said. “I don’t think there’s much difference in any of those teams. They look like they’re all solid ballclubs that play good defense.”

The biggest difference, Grey said, was location. As the higher seed in the series — South Panola finished third in Division 2-6A — Vicksburg got to choose whether it’s on the road for Game 1 and hosts Games 2 and 3 at home Saturday as a doubleheader, or vice versa.

Grey ultimately chose to travel for Game 1, opting to keep his homefield advantage rather than get a better night’s rest. He said his team has done well with similar trips this season. At a spring break tournament in Oak Grove, the Gators endured a nearly six-hour game against Ridgeland that was interrupted by two long rain delays. The next day they returned to play two games, winning one and losing one.

“We’ve gone on some long trips on back-to-back days,” Grey said. “I don’t feel like the travel will effect us too bad. Having the kids mentally focused is the main thing.”

The mental side of returning to the playoffs is no small hurdle for the Gators. Last season, they blew two big leads in Game 3 of a first-round series against South Panola and bowed out early. That meltdown ended when South Panola scored six runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to win and advance, and it hasn’t been forgotten.

“It humbled us,” VHS center fielder Lamar Anthony said. “We got up early and slacked off. Now we know no lead is safe. We have to kill it when we get up.”

Lately, the Gators haven’t let up very often. After starting the season 2-5, they’ve won 12 of 16 games since mid-March. They’re on a roll heading into a Class 6A North bracket that appears to be wide open.

Of the 12 teams on that half of the bracket, only Northwest Rankin (24-2) has won more than 20 games. Madison Central and DeSoto Central are the only other teams with at least 18 wins. That type of setup is certainly favorable for a solid team that peaks at the perfect time — perhaps a team like Vicksburg.

“Our bats have gotten hot the last couple weeks. We just need to stay at it,” Anthony said.