Warren Central had baserunners aplenty Tuesday night, even though runs were hard to come by. Fortunately, it had an ace in the hole — or rather in the pitcher’s circle.

Abby Morgan struck out a season-high 13 batters while pitching a one-hit shutout to lead Warren Central to a 3-0 victory over Wesson.

The Lady Vikes (5-5) scored all of their runs in the first inning, but missed several opportunities to blow the game open. They left the bases loaded twice, and 10 runners on base total.

“We’re getting people on base and we’re just not scoring runs. That’s very frustrating,” Warren Central coach Dana McGivney said. “We’re leaving way too many people on base every single game. I’m confident that the hitting will come around, because we know that we have good hitters, but it’s frustrating while it’s while it’s not happening. But to come away with a good win against a quality team, we’ll take it every single time.”

The first four batters reached base for Warren Central in the bottom of the first inning. Sarah Cameron Fancher hit an RBI single, then scored on a groundout by Kamryn Morson. Jenn Smith, who had singled, later scored on a wild pitch for a 3-0 lead.

That was plenty for Morgan, who chewed through Wesson’s lineup like a hungry shark. The senior right-hander retired the first 11 batters of the game, as well as the seven, and struck out seven in a row at one point.

A hit batter and a walk in the fourth inning put two runners on with two outs, and was the only minor jam Morgan had to work out of. She carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning, but it was broken up when Lexie Freeman singled. Courtesy runner Preslee Newman was caught stealing second and Morgan struck out Jaide Shoop to end the game.

“Abby pitched a heck of a game,” McGivney said.

Warren Central will go on the road to play Ridgeland Thursday at 6:15 p.m., and then take a week off for spring break. It returns to the field March 18in a tournament in Brookhaven, then plays another game against Wesson on March 20 to lead into the Region 6-6A opener at Pearl on March 23.

“District starts the week we come back from spring break. Hopefully we’ll be hitting the ball better by then and ready to play some good competition,” McGivney said.

Vicksburg 13, Ridgeland 8
Harmony Harris hit a two-run home run, and Jordan Grace, Lili Kistler and Charli Van Norman had two hits apiece as Vicksburg High defeated Ridgeland on Tuesday.

Grace also pitched a complete game and had nine strikeouts. She was 2-for-5 at the plate and scored two runs.

The Missy Gators blew the game open with six runs in the top of the third to take an 8-1 lead. Lexi Kistler hit an RBI single, but the rally was mostly sparked by Ridgeland’s mistakes. Two errors, three walks and two wild pitches all helped Vicksburg along.

Ridgeland committed 10 errors in the game. Its pitchers walked six batters and hit two more.

The Missy Gators added two runs in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth — the latter on Harris’ homer — and one in the seventh, before fending off a Ridgeland rally in the bottom of the seventh. The Titans scored four runs, but never got close to making a full comeback from the 13-4 deficit they faced entering the inning.

Vicksburg plays at Loyd Star Thursday at 6:15 p.m., and is home against Cleveland Central Friday at 6:15 p.m.