In a lot of ways, there was no doubt that this was going to be a rebuilding year for Warren Central’s softball team.

The Lady Vikes lost six multiple-year starters to graduation and replaced most of them with ninth- and 10th-graders. Some growing pains were expected, and were experienced.

Coach Brian Ellis, however, doesn’t want to think that way.

“I think the perception is you go 22-8 or whatever we went and you beat the state champions one time, and then you lose six seniors, is that it’s going to be a rebuilding year,” Ellis said. “It is, in a sense, but I always like to approach it as every year is the same. That’s my goal for this program is to have these girls, every year when they walk in this door, they expect to win.”

And win the Lady Vikes did. Not as much as in 2024 — they only finished with a 12-15 record after going 23-8 — but enough to make Ellis the 2025 Vicksburg Post softball Coach of the Year.

In his second season at Warren Central, Ellis navigated the young Lady Vikes to the brink of the Region 2-6A championship, a win over perennial power Neshoba Central, and the second round of the playoffs.

Ellis said it shows that building a program can help weather the occasional transition periods of one talented group replacing another.

“It always shows what we’ve done, what the team and girls have done. This year was a little bit different than last year. Obviously record-wise, but also the team itself was a lot different. A lot less experience. But I was really pleased with the progress we made,” Ellis said. “It kind of sucked to end the way it ended, but at the same time I’m very pleased because we had a lot of girls step up.”

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Warren Central had some experienced players returning this season, but only three seniors — infielders Sydney Hern and Kennadi Williams, and outfielder Whitley Parks. Those three combined for 32 plate appearances in 2024.

With such a young team, the Lady Vikes took a while to find their feet against a difficult schedule. They lost their first seven games, including four against opponents who won at least one playoff series.

A three-game winning streak just before spring break started to turn things around, however, and they went 12-8 the rest of the way. The second half of the season included a 10-6 win over Neshoba Central that snapped the Lady Rockets’s 52-game region winning streak, as well as a first-round playoff series victory against Saltillo.

Warren Central was swept by South Panola in the second round, but still won a playoff series for the third year in a row.

“I think we put ourselves in good position to build, and keep getting better,” Ellis said. “Some of them, especially the younger ones, gained a lot of confidence that they can be successful.”

The upside of introducing so many younger players into the lineup at once, Ellis noted, is that they get to stick around for a while.

Vicksburg Post Player of the Year KeKe McKay, who batted .360 with 19 RBIs, is among six regulars who have at least two years left to play. Pitcher Madison Pant, the 2024 Player of the Year, shortstop Anzley Keen and Caitlin Lewis will be the only seniors on the 2026 roster.

The Lady Vikes will still need to find a way to punch through to the upper crust of Class 6A softball next season, but it won’t be because they aren’t ready to try. Ellis believes this season was a great step in the right direction, even with a few rough edges.

“I think we laid a foundation as far as believing when we go in here we can win,” Ellis said. “These girls, even though they didn’t get a lot of varsity playing time (in 2024), they were around it and they all had some different things they did during the course of the year. Now this year they’ve stepped into this and you’ve got some others that have seen the impact.”

VICKSBURG POST COACHES OF THE YEAR
2025 – Brian Ellis, Warren Central
2024 – Brian Ellis, Warren Central
2023 – Dana McGivney, Warren Central
2022 – Brian Ellis, Vicksburg
2021 – Brian Ellis, Vicksburg
2020 – No winner (COVID)
2019 – Amanda Yocum, Porter’s Chapel
2018 – Dana McGivney, Warren Central
2017 – Amanda Yocum, Porter’s Chapel
2016 – Brian Ellis, Vicksburg
2015 – Candice Reeder and Howard Park, St. Al
2014 – Dana McGivney, Warren Central
2013 – Dana McGivney, Warren Central
2012 – Gene Rogillio, St. Aloysius
2011 – Amanda Yocum, Vicksburg
2010 – Dana McGivney, Warren Central
2009 – Dana McGivney, Warren Central
2008 – No winner
2007 – Amanda Yocum, Vicksburg/Porters Chapel
2006 – Chris Etheridge, Porters Chapel
2005 – Lucy Young, Warren Central
2004 – Kevin Griffin, Porters Chapel
2003 – Kevin Griffin, Porters Chapel
2002 – Gene Rogillio, St. Aloysius and Lucy Young, Warren Central
2001 – Gene Rogillio, St. Aloysius
2000 – Josh Harper, Vicksburg