A long, crazy day at the Softball Swamp, fittingly, ended with a wild celebration.

Jazmin Green scored the go-ahead run on a bases-loaded walk in the bottom of the sixth inning, Vicksburg High added an insurance run thanks to a passed ball, and then held on to beat Oxford 13-11 Saturday in Game 3 of a first-round Class 5A softball playoff series.

The Missy Gators (8-13) won the best-of-three series 2-1 and advanced to play Lake Cormorant in the second round. Game 1 of that series will be Tuesday at Vicksburg’s Softball Swamp field, and Games 2 and 3 will be played as a doubleheader Wednesday at Lake Cormorant.

“Crazy. But that’s the game. A lot of times that’s the game. In the playoffs, you’ve got to find a way to get the ‘W’ and we made two great plays there to kill that game out,” Vicksburg coach Brian Ellis said. “It’s been a long day. Girls getting home late, or early this morning, and then having to get up here and play the games and (Oxford) had to drive all this way. It was a battle. It’s exciting to win it. It was ugly at times.”

Oxford (6-21) won 5-4 in Game 2 earlier in the day when Kyla Malone belted a two-run home run in the top of the seventh inning. That wild finish, however, was just the appetizer for an even zanier Game 3 to decide the series.

Both teams scored multiple runs in each of the first three innings, and then Oxford tacked on three more in the top of the fourth to tie the game at 11 before things settled down.

The score stayed tied until the sixth, when Vicksburg loaded the bases with no outs. Olivia Oakes drew a four-pitch walk to bring in the go-ahead run, and three pitches later Myah’ Wright came in on a passed ball to make it 13-11.

Oxford held the line there, and threatened to pull out another last at-bat win in the top of the seventh. The Chargers’ first two batters reached base. The Missy Gators, however, got two force outs at third and Oakes induced a grounder back to the pitcher for the final out of the game.

“We just battled at the plate, and we finally stopped swinging at bad pitches,” Ellis said.

Madison Crosby hit a three-run home run for Oxford and finished 2-for-4 with four RBIs. Kaytion Pegues had two hits and scored two runs, and Haley Everett was 2-for-4 with two RBIs.

Wright went 2-for-3 with an RBI and two runs scored for Vicksburg, Oakes scored three runs, and Shelby Muirhead and Jada Sims had two RBIs apiece.

VICKSBURG VS. OXFORD

Class 5A softball playoffs

Game 1: Vicksburg 13, Oxford 9

Game 2: Oxford 5, Vicksburg 4

Game 3: Vicksburg 13, Oxford 11,

Vicksburg wins series 2-1

Up next: Vicksburg vs. Lake Cormorant, Tuesday (at Vicksburg) and Wednesday (at Lake Cormorant), times TBA