Softballs were flying around Lucy Young Field on Tuesday night, with Warren Central even a knocking in a three-run inside-the-park home run, but ultimately it was Pearl that came away with an 18-9 victory in a high-scoring softball matchup.

Fourteen of the 18 starters in the game had at least one hit. The first four batters in Pearl’s lineup were a combined 11-for-21, with eight RBIs and 14 runs scored.

Kaylee Hoeft was 4-for-4 with three runs scored for Warren Central (2-3). Kelsey Lockridge also went 4-for-4 with two doubles and an RBI, and Kaitlyn Mitchell drove in three runs.

“I’m happy with the way we hit the ball, but definitely not happy with the fact that we made way too many errors and just did not play solid defense,” Warren Central coach Dana McGivney said.

Warren Central had 12 hits, but gave up 21 to Pearl. WC also had nine errors compared to Pearl’s two.

The errors immediately hurt the Lady Vikes, with a couple of them setting up a one-run single and a two-run sacrifice fly that gave Pearl a 3-0 lead in the top of the first. The Lady Vikes struck back in the bottom of the inning, with Lockridge hitting an RBI single and then stealing second and reaching home on an error to set the score at 3-2.

A sacrifice fly and a double gave Pearl two more runs in the top of the second, but no other runs were scored until the top of the fourth, when two errors led to two more Pearl runs. Then Skylea Pope hit an RBI single to give Pearl an 8-2 lead.

Things got a little out of hand from there, with Pearl scoring 10 runs over its last three at-bats and Warren Central scoring six.

A highlight for Warren Central came in the bottom of the sixth inning, when Mitchell crushed a pitch all the way to the right field wall and rounded the bases cleanly ahead of the throw home, resulting in a three-run inside-the-park home run.

Warren Central wasn’t able to overcome the 18-9 deficit in the last inning, but McGivney said the game was still a good step forward for the team.

“We had people back and tried to get everybody back to playing in their positions,” McGivney said. “That’s the thing, we’ve had a couple of people out from playing basketball, and now they’re back, so we just have to get everybody back in a rhythm of playing together.”

Both of the players who had previously been with the Lady Vikes’ basketball team, shortstop Cocoa Fultz and left fielder Dominique Caldwell, saw time in their first game back.

Fultz went 0-for-4, and Caldwell was 0-for-1.

“It’s big to have them back,” McGivney said. “When we were without them I thought my team was playing well, but you miss them when they’re gone.”

McGivney chalked the defensive struggles up to a lack of playing time and the shuffling of her position players. The latter left some players spending time at a position they weren’t particularly experienced at.

The Lady Vikes will play at Wesson on Thursday and then two games Saturday at the Lawrence County tournament. After that, they’re off for 12 days for spring breaks.

“I definitely think it will get better as it goes on,” McGivney said. “I don’t expect that to happen throughout the season, I think the more we play and have practice time together, it will definitely start to mesh and we’ll play better defensively.”