Warren Central’s softball players threw their gloves in the air, let out long yells, and sang and danced in the outfield after winning what its coach called one of the program’s biggest wins in years.

A little over the top for a regular-season game? Perhaps.

But for ending a 10-year streak, moving into position to claim a region championship, and slaying one of Mississippi’s mightiest softball dragons, it was quite appropriate.

The Lady Vikes overcame a four-run deficit by scoring four times in the bottom of the fourth inning and four more in the fifth to beat Neshoba Central 10-6 on Tuesday.

Neshoba Central had a 52-game winning streak against region opponents snapped. Its last loss within its league was on March 31, 2015 vs. Germantown, and it has a 282-27 overall record since then. The Lady Rockets have won nine state championships in the past 11 seasons.

“It’s something that I want for them, because I love seeing what they just did. As a coach, that means everything in the world,” Warren Central coach Brian Ellis said. “You always want to win your last game. But to have a big win like that … we’ve worked to get here all year long and it’s paying off right now. We’re a team that’s very, very capable of doing some damage.”

Warren Central (10-11, 5-1 Region 2-6A) is in the driver’s seat for the Region 2-6A championship but still has work to do even after knocking off Neshoba Central (13-7, 5-1). The Lady Vikes need to beat Ridgeland on Thursday and Vicksburg High (5-12, 2-3) next Tuesday (April 15) to officially clinch the title. They run-ruled both teams the first time they met this season. Neshoba Central also has two games left with Ridgeland (4-10, 2-3) next week.

Warren Central and Neshoba Central split their two-game season series. If they both finish with one region loss, WC would win the tiebreaker based off of total run differential. Neshoba won 2-0 when the teams played in Philadelphia last week.

“This is one of our biggest wins in the two years I’ve been here. Now we’ve put ourselves in a position to win district. We just have to take care of business Thursday and Tuesday,” Ellis said.

Like any great achievement, Tuesday’s victory did not come easy. Warren Central jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but gave up six runs in the top of the fourth. The Lady Vikes dropped two easy pop flies that opened the floodgates for Neshoba Central.

They quickly shrugged it off, however, with a jolt of adrenaline off the bat of Sydney Hern. The senior third baseman hit her first high school home run over the left field fence to cut it to 6-4 and ignite a two-out rally.

Mary Clell Allred followed with a single, and a botched fielder’s choice and an error brought in two more runs that tied the game.

“I hit them out in practice all the time. I’m just glad I finally belted a ball this time and hit it out,” Hern said. “I literally felt a shock go down my body. Like, stunned. I literally didn’t know where I was. I blacked out. It felt really good.”

Allred added a defensive gem in the next inning, snagging a line drive up the middle and stepping on second base for an inning-ending double play. Then the Lady Vikes surged ahead with another two-out rally in their half.

Two singles and a pair of two-out walks forced in a run that put WC ahead 7-6. Mari Kynlea Ferguson and KeKe McKay followed those up with two more singles that plated a total of three runs to push it to 10-6.

Ferguson finished 2-for-4 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Hern had two RBIs and scored twice, and Allred was 1-for-2 with a walk, one RBI and two runs scored.

“We found out what we’re made of tonight. What we can do,” Ellis said. “When they scored six and went up 6-2, I stopped them and said, ‘Let’s see what we’re made of. You can put your heads down or you can battle.’ We’ve been putting the ball in play, we’ve been hitting the ball, we can score some runs and put ourselves right back in this and win a ballgame. And they did just that.”

After escaping the fifth-inning jam, Warren Central pitcher Madison Pant went into lockdown mode the rest of the way. She retired five of the last six batters she faced, striking out three of them, to bring an end to Neshoba Central’s decade of dominance in whatever league it happened to be in.

“That’s amazing for our team. Especially where we’ve been at all year,” said Hern, who led a celebratory group dance in left field after the game. “It’s really good to beat a team like this, especially in district. Now we have a chance at being district champs.”