After disposing of Picayune in two straight games to open the playoffs, Warren Central will take aim at Long Beach with a chance to advance to the Class 5A South State championship.

The first game of the best-of-three series will start at 5:30 p.m. at Lady Vikes Field. The series heads to Long Beach for games two and three on Saturday.

“We look forward to being at home for the first one,” Young said. “We want to win here and then have some cushion when we go down there on Saturday.”

The Lady Vikes (21-5) swept Picayune 2-1 and 9-1 on Saturday at home. Long Beach enters having beaten Ocean Springs in the first round.

“Both of their games with Ocean Springs were close, but we don’t know that much about them,” Young said. “We seldom see any of the coast teams during the season and none of the teams we’ve played, other than Picayune, have played them.”

The veteran WC coach, however, expects a competitive series.

“From what I did hear from a couple of coaches, is that they are a good defensive team with a top quality pitcher,” Young said.

The Lady Bearcats are led by pitcher Susanna Teague who is 17-4 on the season. The offense is keyed by Julia Lamy and Tiffany Lewallen.

Pitching and an improved defense has led the Lady Vikes to a late season surge. Lauren Anderson has recovered fully from an early-season shoulder problem.

She struck out 13 and scattered four hits in the 2-1 win over Picayune.

“Our whole team is pretty healthy. And I think with Cookie Johnson now in center, we’ve got three good outfielders with Brittany (Fuller) in left and Mandy (Fuller) in right,” Young said. “All three of them have tremendous speed.”

The one concern for the Lady Vikes has been at the plate. They were no-hit in a 1-0 over Terry in their last regular season game and had just two hits in game one with Picayune.

The bottom half of the lineup bailed the team out in game two against Picayune with four hits and four RBIs. First baseman Bridget Dillon, the No. 9 hitter, had a key two-run hit while Anna Jones added a RBI single.

“We’ve kinduva gone into a little slump with our hitting,” Young said. “At the beginning of the year, Brittany and Lauren were our leaders. But now, I’d say Mandy Fuller has really picked it up in the latter half of the season.”