From here on out, only one team will end its season truly happy. It was a good thing, then, that Olivia Oakes got one last treasured memory in just under the wire.

Oakes allowed one run in a complete-game victory, and drove in the game-winning run with a walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning as Vicksburg High beat Cleveland 2-1 Monday in its regular-season finale.

“It feels great,” Oakes said of the game-winning hit. “I don’t even know how to explain what type of feeling that is.”

The Missy Gators (7-13) will open the Class 5A playoffs Friday on the road against either West Point or Oxford. They’ll play Game 2 and, if necessary, Game 3 Saturday at home at the Softball Swamp.

Monday’s senior night win gave them plenty of positive momentum heading into their first-round series. They didn’t commit an error and played one of their better all-around games of the season.

Oakes allowed three hits and one run in seven innings, struck out six and only walked one. Beth Martin went 2-for-4 and scored both of the team’s runs, while Myah’ Wright was 3-for-3 with three stolen bases.

“We’ve talked about it all year long. If we don’t make mistakes and make the routine plays, Olivia is throwing outs, and we make those outs, all we have to do is get the other team to make a mistake and put a base hit behind it like we did tonight. Find a way to win every inning,” Vicksburg coach Brian Ellis said.

Vicksburg and Cleveland exchanged runs early Monday. Martin singled and scored on a base hit by Kelsey Lockridge in the first inning, and Cleveland tied it up on an RBI single by Jaden Robinson in the third.

The score remained 1-1 until the seventh. Martin singled with one out, and then Wright followed with an infield hit. Wright just beat the throw and survived an umpire’s conference to get the call correct. When the dust settled, the Missy Gators had runners at first and second and Oakes at the plate.

The senior pitcher, who last week signed with Hinds Community College, showed off her hitting chops. She lifted a soft line drive just onto the grass behind first base and just inside the foul line. Martin hustled home from second and scored the winning run without a play.

“I knew we had the fastest person on second and I needed to hit it that way. I didn’t intend for it to be like that, but that’s what I tried to do,” Oakes said.