Senior night turned into junior varsity evening at Bazinsky Park on Tuesday.

St. Aloysius took advantage of five errors by Vicksburg to score four unearned runs, and went on to beat the Missy Gators 8-4.

With both teams facing their playoff openers on Thursday, and no JV game scheduled, both coaches substituted liberally. By the later innings, the game took on the feel of a major league spring training game where veterans were rested and younger players got a chance to shine.

“We didn’t even keep stats in our dugout. (St. Al) didn’t have enough JV girls, and I wanted to play mine because we’d had some games canceled,” Vicksburg coach Brian Ellis said.

The Missy Gators (9-15) will open the Class 5A playoffs on the road Thursday at Center Hill. St. Al (7-7-1) will host Ethel on Thursday in Game 1 of a best-of-three Class 1A series.

Like Ellis, St. Al coach Candice Reeder said Tuesday’s game was more about next season than this one.

“Both of us tried to get our JV players in and let them play. I wanted to use it to reward them for working hard all season,” Reeder said.

St. Al’s varsity was the difference on the scoreboard, though.

Jordan McDonald went 2-for-3 and scored three runs. Brooklyn Richards was 2-for-3 and scored twice. Allie Willis drove in a run, and fellow senior Avery Parman held Vicksburg to two earned runs in 6 2/3 innings in the pitcher’s circle.

Vicksburg used three pitchers. Regular starter Olivia Oakes was lifted after just 1 2/3 innings. Nine junior varsity players found their way into the lineup at some point.

“As far as varsity and everything else, I was happy. We’ve played some pretty good softball this year. We just made some timely mistakes,” Ellis said.

Warren Central 4, Ridgeland 2

Warren Central 12, Ridgeland 7

Darby Gain allowed three hits and one earned run in five innings as Warren Central beat Ridgeland 4-2 in the first game of a doubleheader.

Warren Central used some savvy baserunning to score three runs in the bottom of the fourth inning to blow it open.

Megan Stewart drew a leadoff walk, got to third on a passed ball and a single by Katie Channell, and scored on a sacrifice fly by Gain. Later, Ashley Coley singled and stayed alive in a rundown long enough to let two runs score to make it 4-0.

In game two, Channell went 2-for-3 with a double and two runs scored and Brooke Patterson went 3-for-4 as the Lady Vikes completed the sweep with a 12-7 victory.

Six players drove in a run for Warren Central. Courtesy runner Sarah Kate Smith scored three times and Stewart scored twice.

Warren Central will open the Class 6A playoffs Thursday at 5 p.m. at home against Olive Branch.