Even though they’ve scored 10 or more runs in four of their last five games, the Warren Central Lady Vikes still weren’t producing enough offense as Dana McGivney would’ve liked.

The coach’s solution was to take the bat out of her players’ hands.

Literally.

“We’re not letting them swing any 33-inch bats,” McGivney said. “We did it Monday and they killed the ball in practice when we did it. They tried to sneak them back in tonight and we just had to take them from them.”

The tactic had mixed results on Wednesday, but ultimately paid off. The Lady Vikes scored five runs in the top of the seventh inning and rallied from an early deficit to beat crosstown rival Vicksburg 9-4.

Morgan Stewart went 2-for-4 and had the game’s biggest hit. With two runners on and one out in the seventh inning, she sliced a line drive to right field. The ball hit just in front of Vicksburg right fielder Hannah Emerson, who was charging in, skipped past her and rolled to the wall.

Stewart circled the bases, colliding with Vicksburg’s Bethany Martin as she rounded third, and was awarded home plate when Martin was called for interference.

“I was going for a triple, and then Bethany was standing there. I was like, ‘Please don’t hit her.’ I was scared. I was trying to avoid her at first. Coach Mac always tells us not to go around the players, just go through,” Stewart said. “I had to apologize to (Martin).”

Stewart said she was using one of the shorter bats for her big hit. She said it was the perfect tool to combat Vicksburg pitcher Olivia Oakes, even if it took some getting used to.

“A lot of us older kids swing 33s and I was a little upset at first because I didn’t get to swing my Zino. I got the brand new one. But once I started getting used to it, it kind of clicked,” Stewart said. “Olivia was pitching inside mostly, so the handle of the bat when we tried to pull it in we wouldn’t hit it off the handle.”

Vicksburg (3-8) jumped out to a 4-2 lead after three innings, but Warren Central (6-4) tied the game on a similar play to Stewart’s inside-the-park home run.

With a runner on in the top of the fifth, WC’s Brooke Patterson blooped an opposite field single down the left field line. Sarah Daniels tripped and fell as she tried to field the ball, and Patterson circled the bases. It went in the book as a single and a three-base error, but still tied the game at 4.

It was also one of two errors and other assorted miscues Vicksburg made that left its coach Brian Ellis frustrated. Out of Warren Central’s nine runs, only one was earned — and even that scored when first baseman Kelsey Lockridge and catcher Shelby Muirhead collided on a foul pop up 20 feet from home plate, allowing Cocoa Fultz to sprint home with WC’s final run of the game.

Vicksburg lost for the fifth time in six games overall, and for the eighth consecutive time against Warren Central. In all, Vicksburg has lost 13 of its last 15 games against the Lady Vikes.

“It’s the same thing that’s been happening to us the last four or five ballgames. We’ve played well enough and done things well enough to win ballgames, and then we just don’t do it,” Ellis said. “Of course it’s a big rivalry game, but you have to learn how to stay focused and not think failure. You’ve got to believe you can win, and we just haven’t been able to do that here lately.”

The Missy Gators sputtered after a promising start.

Muirhead had an RBI single in the first inning, and an RBI double by Myah’ Wright in the second gave them a 2-1 lead. After Warren Central tied it in the third inning, Vicksburg scored twice on a pair of bases-loaded walks to go up 4-2.

The Missy Gators only scored those two runs, however, despite having the bases loaded with no outs. They didn’t have a hit after the third inning, either.

“We’ve been hitting the ball and we’ve been scoring some runs. It’s just been defensively where we haven’t taken care of business, and it’s been routine stuff,” Ellis said. “We’ll get there. There’s still a lot of season left.”