[8/18/04]Behind clutch hitting and solid defense, Warren Central picked up a 14-4 victory over Yazoo City on Tuesday.

Lauren Anderson had a pair of singles and five RBIs as the Lady Vikes overcame a 4-0 deficit to win by mercy-rule in five innings. Cookie Johnson knocked in two runs, and four other Lady Vikes had an RBI. Saleda Montgomery allowed 10 hits and four runs to pick up her third win of the season.

Warren Central (3-1) showed patience at the plate as Yazoo City struggled with eight walks and seven errors in the field. The Lady Vikes had 10 hits.

“We were waiting on our certain pitches because they were walking a lot, throwing short,” Anderson said. “We just had to sit back and wait for our pitch.”

Yazoo City coach Keshia Shaffer said the Lady Indians’ mistakes were the result of inexperience.

“A lot of these girls play all year, our girls don’t,” Shaffer said. “This program is just being started, so I think they held together and did pretty well.”

The Lady Vikes got off to a rocky start with a pair of errors and a walk to load the bases with one out in the top of the first inning. Laquitta Streeter then hit a two-out, bases-clearing double to left-center field, and Aziza Felton had an RBI single to give the Lady Indians a 4-0 lead.

WC responded in the bottom of the frame with four runs of its own.

Two walks and an error loaded the bases for Anderson, who delivered a two-run single down the left-field line. Candice Blazier had an RBI single and Kristin Linson brought in a run on a fielder’s choice.

“I was real pleased with the way we came back in the bottom of the first and got runs back on,” WC coach Lucy Young said. “We were patient with their pitching.”

After giving up a hit to Saleda Montgomery to lead off the second inning, Felton walked the next two batters to load the bases. She walked Brittany Fuller to bring in a run before being replaced.

Streeter came in and walked in another run. The Lady Indians then committed three errors that allowed three more runs to cross the plate, giving WC a 9-4 lead.

“In that second inning we had a little trouble with some walks,” Shaffer said. “We had to regroup, got a new pitcher, and we kind of filled in the holes.”

The Lady Vikes then flashed some fancy leather.

Linson handled a hot shot at third base in the top of the third, regrouped and fired the ball over to first base for the first out. Cookie Johnson followed with a phenomenal running catch to rob Brittany Silbey of at least a double.

In the fourth, with runners on first and second, Felton grounded to Shawnderris Johnson at shortstop. Johnson tagged out the runner heading to third and stepped on second base for the unassisted double play.

“We had three really nice defensive plays,” Young said.