Warren Central third baseman Brooke Cockrell drops the ball as Madison’s Central’s Lacy Jacks arrives safely at the bag in the third inning on Thursday. Below, WC pitcher Lauren Anderson throws to the plate in the 3-1 loss to the Lady Jags.(Jon Giffin The Vicksburg Post)

[4/9/04]A few untimely errors was the deciding factor as Warren Central went blow-for-blow in its 3-1 loss to top-ranked Madison Central heading into the state playoffs on Saturday.

“I had hoped that we would get out there and work hard and give them a good game,” Lady Vikes coach Lucy Young said. “And that’s what we did.”

WC pitcher Lauren Anderson scattered nine hits across seven innings, striking out nine and walking just two.

The Lady Jaguars recorded only one earned run in the second inning. With two runners on and no outs, Lacy Jacks singled and advanced to third on an error, scoring two runs. Jacks scored one batter later as Kelsey Webber reached on an error.

“Minus a couple of errors there, we would have been playing a 1-1 game,” Young said.

After the three runs, Anderson struck out the next three batters to end the inning.

The Lady Jaguars’ only other offensive threat came in the seventh inning, when Natalie Buchanan’s third hit of the night loaded the bases with two outs. But the next batter grounded out to end the inning.

On the offensive side, Warren Central came out firing on all cylinders with two solid hits by Anderson and Cookie Johnson and a run in the first inning.

After the promising start, however, the Lady Vikes sputtered to a halt. They had only two more hits and didn’t score the rest of the game.

Pitcher Lindsey Perry went the distance for Madison, striking out 10 and walking two. She allowed four hits, all singles. Tiffany Fuller had a base hit in the fourth, and Johnson had another single in the fifth.

It was the Lady Vikes’ last regular-season game. They will host Ocean Springs in the first round of the Class 5A playoffs on Saturday. Game 1 of the best-of-three series will begin at 3 p.m., with Game 2 to follow. If a Game 3 is necessary, it will be at Ocean Springs on Monday.

Young says she hopes her team will regroup and come back ready to go for the playoffs.

“At this point, we’ve done it all,” she said. “We’re just trying to pull ourselves together and get mentally ready for it.”