Lady Vikes can’t find winning formula against Brandon

Published 12:11 pm Saturday, March 31, 2018

BRANDON — Warren Central’s recent quest for runs has been like a frustrating Easter Egg hunt. The Lady Vikes know they’re out there, can sort of see them, but it turns out to be a rock when they get up close.

Friday’s game against Brandon brought some relief on that front, but not enough to snap out another recent slump.

Anna Taylor Belcher went 2-for-3 with three RBIs, and Brandon beat the Lady Vikes 4-2. It was Warren Central’s fourth loss in five games, and the first time they’ve scored a run in those losses.

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“The last couple of games we haven’t hit the ball very well. We hit the ball better today. We still left runners on that we shouldn’t have, but overall we played a lot better than we’ve been playing in the last four or five games. Our pitcher threw well and we played good defense behind her. I’ll take it,” Warren Central coach Dana McGivney said.

Kelsey Lockridge had two hits for the Lady Vikes (7-7), Cocoa Fultz had a double, and Laura Reagan Logue drove in a run with a groundout. Warren Central left runners in scoring position in the first and sixth innings, however, and had another thrown out at third base to end the third inning.

Fultz reached on a two-out error in the third inning that allowed Kaylee Hoeft to score WC’s first run. Lockridge was advancing from second to third, slightly overran the bag, and was picked off when Brandon first baseman Madison Holton threw across the diamond.

“Any time, especially if you get runners on second and third, it’s disappointing if you can’t score. But at least we’re getting them there,” McGivney said. “We were hitting well at the beginning of the season and then we went into a slump. Hopefully right now we’re going to snap out of it.”

Hoeft, Warren Central’s pitcher, allowed six hits and two walks in six solid innings. Belcher hit an RBI single in the bottom of the second inning and a two-run single in the fourth to give Brandon a 3-1 lead.

The Lady Bulldogs added an insurance run in the sixth when Skylar McClellan scored on a wild pitch to make it 4-2.

“(Hoeft) hit her spots like we needed her to. She did a good job. She kept her pitch count down, which enabled her to pitch all six innings, so that helps us out a lot when she’s throwing well like that,” McGivney said.

Although they lost, McGivney said Friday’s game did provide a lift heading into a long weekend of downtime and a couple of games next week. The Lady Vikes will have a rematch with division rival Clinton — which won the first meeting 8-0 — Thursday at Lucy Young Field. They’ll return to action Tuesday at home against Brookhaven, at 6:15 p.m.

“We’ve got big games next week with Pearl and Clinton again, so we definitely want to go into that playing better than we have,” McGivney said. “Because we definitely did not play our best the last time against Clinton and we made it look easy for them.”

About Ernest Bowker

Ernest Bowker is The Vicksburg Post's sports editor. He has been a member of The Vicksburg Post's sports staff since 1998, making him one of the longest-tenured reporters in the paper's 140-year history. The New Jersey native is a graduate of LSU. In his career, he has won more than 50 awards from the Mississippi Press Association and Associated Press for his coverage of local sports in Vicksburg.

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