FERRIDAY, La. &045; Just when that first bit of adversity hit, the Vidalia Minor League All-Stars got that familiar spark.

He’s small in stature, wore No. 24 on his back and went by the name Michael Nelson.

That was in Wednesday’s unbelievable comeback win over South Franklin, and Vidalia used the momentum from that to take a 14-4 win over Catahoula in four innings Friday to win the District 5 South Sub-district championship at George Perry Field in Ferriday.

This time the Vidalia All-Stars didn’t need a nine-run inning in their last at-bat, but this much is true: they’re better because of it. They play at 2 p.m. today in the district tournament at Bastrop.

&uot;Michael Nelson has scored the winning run in two of our three games and knocked in the winning run in another,&uot; Vidalia head coach Tam Winston said. &uot;He’s probably got the quickest hands of any kid on the team. I really think the team has come together. We were down 14-7 (Wednesday), and we scored nine runs to win the game. I thought for the first time they really jelled as a unit.&uot;

Vidalia jumped out to a quick lead early and withstood a brief Catahoula rally before ending the game in four innings. While Vidalia starter Jake Winston wasn’t as dominant as he was in Monday’s 11-1 win over the same Catahoula team, the defense backed him up to close the door.

But give credit to Catahoula. After losing that game Monday in its first game of the tournament, it battled back with two straight wins to make the finals of the tournament.

&uot;Our guys played well and hit the ball well,&uot; said Catahoula coach Bud Herrington, whose team was awarded the Sportsmanship Award. &uot;They’ve got a good defense. I’ll give them that. We brought our sticks tonight. There’s no shame in what we’ve done. We came all the way through the losers’ bracket. We’re just satisfied we got this far. We had a good group of kids, and they played hard.&uot;

Catahoula answered in the third with four runs off Jake Winston to heat up. Ryan Gant, Trey Vault, Aric Boothe and Chase Duncan each scored as Catahoula loaded the bases with two walks, a hit batsman and a fielder’s choice.

Jake Winston got the first out with a strikeout before Devin Curry was forced out at second for the second out. Then with the bases juiced and two outs, Derek Herrington’s grounder to first stuck Va’Shawn Davis while he was running to second for the third out of the inning.

&uot;Jake wasn’t throwing his best, but he kept his infielders on their toes,&uot; Tam Winston said. &uot;They did a really good job playing defense today. That (winning) was our goal. I asked them if we can win one game and get out of there because we’ve got to play district tomorrow.&uot;

Vidalia, meanwhile, then scored the run to finish it in the fourth after Catahoula left Tyler Myers stranded at second in the fourth. Nelson was hit by a pitch from Derek Herrington to lead off the fourth, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Jake Winston’s single to right to end the game.

&uot;We couldn’t come back,&uot; Bud Herrington said. &uot;We gave up seven runs, and it’s hard to come back from seven runs. &uot;

Vidalia got four runs in the first inning to take the lead and tacked on nine in the second for a 13-0 lead. Vidalia took advantage of eight walks in the inning while getting a key triple from cleanup hitter Chris Cox.

&uot;They gave up a lot of walks, but we hit the ball when we needed to,&uot; Tam Winston said. &uot;They’re a special group of kids, and they’ve always seemed to be able to step up to the occasion.&uot;