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Warren Central's Mari Kynlea Ferguson slides into third base as Vicksburg High's Shandrea Lockridge (2) prepares to apply the tag. Ferguson was out on the play, but Warren Central beat Vicksburg 18-0. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High third baseman Shandrea Lockridge heads back to the dugout at the end of the fourth inning in Thursday's game against Warren Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Kennadi Williams heads toward home plate to scored a run Thursday against Vicksburg. Williams was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and three runs scored as Warren Central won 18-0. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg's Zion Harvey bats during Thursday's game against Warren Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's KK Williamson (7) heads back to the dugout after scoring a run in Thursday's 18-0 victory over Vicksburg High. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High softball pitcher Trinity McGloster delivers during Thursday's game against Warren Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central second baseman Mary Clell Allred picks up a ground ball during Thursday's game against Vicksburg High. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central's Katie Warnock (10) scores a run as Vicksburg catcher Avery Van Norman catches a late throw to the plate during Thursday's game. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Warren Central softball players talk between innings during Thursday's game against Vicksburg High. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Vicksburg High softball players cheer on their teammates during Thursday's game against Warren Central. (Ernest Bowker/The Vicksburg Post)

Losing back-to-back games against tough opponents happens to every softball team now and then. Even if they didn’t take it personally, however, the Warren Central Lady Vikes were still happy to put that behind them with an easy victory.

Kennadi Williams was 2-for-3 with four RBIs and three runs scored, Addi Mullen drove in three runs, and Warren Central snapped a brief two-game losing streak by beating Vicksburg High 18-0 on Thursday.

Warren Central (8-10, 4-1 MHSAA Region 2-6A) had a total of six hits in shutout losses to Florence and Neshoba Central earlier this week. It had nine against Vicksburg (4-12, 1-3) as it defeated its crosstown rival for the 13th consecutive time. Vicksburg’s last win in the series was in 2012.

“We weren’t being selective at all. We were afraid to get a strike on us, and we thought there was a rule where you had to swing at a change up every time it was thrown. We did a really good job tonight of staying back and hitting it,” Warren Central coach Brian Ellis said of the difference between the two losses and Thursday’s win. “We hit a lot of balls hard tonight. That was what I’m more excited about. We barreled a lot of balls up tonight.”

Williams hit an RBI double in the first inning, and then the Lady Vikes scored seven times in the second to take a 10-0 lead. Another six runs in the third inning and two more in the fourth, along with a solid pitching performance by Madison Pant, brought the game to an early end via the mercy rule.

Pant allowed two hits and one walk, and struck out six batters in five innings. She also walked twice, had one hit and one RBI at the plate.

KeKe McKay had two RBIs and scored two runs for the Lady Vikes as well. Anzley Keen and KK Williamson drove in two runs apiece, and Mary Clell Allred was 2-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored.

Warren Central drew five walks, had five more hit by pitches, and took advantage of six Vicksburg errors. Only seven of WC’s 18 runs were earned. The Lady Vikes also had only one strikeout.

“The last few games we’ve cut our strikeouts way down. If you keep putting the ball in play, good things are going to happen,” Ellis said.

For Vicksburg, it was a disappointing loss in more ways than the score. The Missy Gators scored a season-high 20 runs in a region win over Ridgeland on Wednesday and had won two of their previous three games. Their only hits against Warren Central were back-to-back singles by Harmony Harris and Lili Kistler in the second inning.

Coach Briana Knox said the Missy Gators’ hitting issues stemmed from the difference in speed between Ridgeland’s struggling pitchers and an ace like Pant.

“The timing is what killed us tonight. We’ve seen different pitching last night vs. tonight. That was really most of it,” Knox said. “We’ve still got to play the rest of the season and finish the season.”

Warren Central, on the other hand, felt like it was back on track heading into a rematch with Neshoba Central (12-6, 5-0) next week. The Lady Vikes lost 2-0 when the teams played at Neshoba Central this week, and they can still win the Region 2-6A championship by winning Tuesday’s game at Lucy Young Field. The game will start at 6:15 p.m.

“Especially that Neshoba Central game, I was proud of the way we fought and everything else. We never got down. It was 0-0 going into the sixth,” Ellis said. “But we want to beat them because if you beat them you’ve got a good chance to win the district. Hopefully the tables will turn a little bit, and we can play the defense we’ve been playing and hit the ball.”

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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