The Vicksburg Missy Gators capped off a productive week with a couple of workmanlike wins Saturday afternoon.

Kayla Foster delivered a walk-off RBI single in the bottom of the seventh inning as the Missy Gators beat Riverside 6-5 in game one of a split doubleheader at the Softball Swamp, and then they had a much easier time in earning a 14-1 run-rule victory over Greenville in game two.

The doubleheader sweep followed a 39-0 victory over Provine on Thursday and gave Vicksburg a three-game winning streak heading into a couple of big division games next week.

The Missy Gators will play a non-division game Monday at Richland, then travel to division foes Warren Central on Tuesday and Clinton on Thursday.

“When you can string two in a row in the same day and stay focused like we did, it’s a good day,” Vicksburg coach Brian Ellis said. “We didn’t hit in the first game like we did in the second game, but we turned it around.”

The Missy Gators, who won two games during the 2016 slow-pitch season, improved their record to 7-2 this year. They banged out 15 hits in less than four full innings against Greenville (0-9) and only allowed four.

Greenville’s only run came on an RBI double by Jusai Sellers in the third inning, on a ball that hit off the black tubing at the top of the left field wall and kicked back into play. Vicksburg turned one double play and threw out another runner at the plate.

Ellis said the team’s defense, as much as its hitting, was the key to victory.

“We got out of several innings today without giving up a run because we made the routine plays and the right plays,” Ellis said.

The hitting was pretty good, though. Nine of the 10 batters in the starting lineup had at least one hit against Greenville. Markayla Chiles was 2-for-3 with three RBIs, Kimberlyn Christian went 2-for-3 with two RBIs, Jasmine Miller singled in two runs, and Sara Daniels had two hits and an RBI.

Chelsea Myers reached base four times, on a single, double, walk and fielder’s choice, and scored all four times.
Vicksburg scored in every inning, capped off by a nine-run outburst in the bottom of the fourth to finish the game via the mercy rule.

“That game we played Provine we hit the ball really well. When you’re hitting the ball really well like that, you give yourself an opportunity to win ballgames and you don’t get as tense,” Ellis said. “You try to win every inning, but when you can win an inning big, that’s even better.”