Lady Vikes eliminated by Tupelo

Published 11:47 pm Friday, April 27, 2018

Warren Central threw a scare into Tupelo, but couldn’t get over the hump on Friday.
Kat Knight drove in the go-ahead run with a double in the fourth inning, Paris Lehman hit a three-run homer in the second, and Tupelo beat the Lady Vikes 4-3 in Game 2 of their MHSAA Class 6A softball playoff series.

Tupelo (18-4), the defending state champion, swept the second-round series and advanced to face either Northwest Rankin or Hernando in the quarterfinals next week. Warren Central (11-15) still has never been past the second round in the program’s 19-year history.

The Lady Vikes, however, didn’t go down without a fight in this series. After losing Game 1 by a 5-3 score on Tuesday, they rallied from a 3-0 deficit to tie Game 2.

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Kaitlyn Mitchell hit an RBI single in the third inning, and Dee Dee Caldwell had one in the fourth. Logan Hardin scored on a wild pitch after Caldwell’s hit to tie it at 3.
Tupelo answered right back, however. Lehman hit a one-out double and, after a groundout, Knight lined another double to left field to bring in Lehman and give Tupelo a 4-3 lead.

The Lady Vikes only had one baserunner the rest of the game and Lehman, Tupelo’s pitcher, retired the last seven batters in a row.

Lehman pitched 3 2/3 innings of scoreless relief. At the plate, she was 2-for-3 with the home run, three RBIs and two runs scored. Knight was 3-for-4 with two doubles and one RBI.

For Warren Central, Caldwell went 2-for-3 with one RBI and one run scored. Eighth-grade pitcher Annalyn Nevels allowed 10 hits, but threw a complete game and only allowed one run after Lehman’s early homer. She struck out one batter and walked one.