VIDALIA, La. &045; The fans sure got their money’s worth on Friday night, but it wasn’t until Saturday that the Vidalia Minor League All-Stars could reap the benefits.

Vidalia still had people talking a day later after its eight-run rally in its last at-bat to win 8-7 on Friday night, but on Saturday it appeared as if the ice had been broken. Vidalia hit the ball up and down the lineup and got a steady outing from Dee Garrison on the mound to take a 12-2 win in four innings over Winnsboro.

The win puts Vidalia, last year’s District 6 sub-district tournament winner, in the finals win or lose Monday against Ferriday.

&uot;(Friday night) just got them ready to play,&uot; Vidalia head coach Tam Winston said. &uot;I think they thought it would be a cakewalk, and they realized they had to play a little ball. We liked that the weather was much nicer today. This puts us in the driver’s seat, and win or lose we’ll go to the finals.&uot;

Winston’s bunch disposed of Winnsboro in similar fashion to its wins in last year’s tournament. This year’s Vidalia team has five players from last year and eight who were All-Stars at the coach-pitch level.

That’s a stark difference to Winnsboro All-Stars, who trailed 3-2 after two before yielding the big inning in the fourth by allowing six runs.

&uot;We’re young, and they were real good last year,&uot; Winnsboro head coach Chris Sullivan said. &uot;They did real well, and we’re young. We’ve got some good, strong 10-year-olds but not a lot of them. We’ve got five 10-year-olds, and the rest are 9. We just made some critical boo-boos. They’re good, and we hope to face them again.&uot;

Vidalia had the big inning to end the game early, and plenty of the spark came on a two-run single from Dee Garrison off Winnsboro pitcher Mason Liles that scored Brandon Warshaw and Cory Williams. Winnsboro’s three errors in the inning buoyed Vidalia’s rally, including a fly ball in right off the bat of Jake Winston that fell in to allow Garrison to score for a 10-2 lead.

&uot;We hit the ball pretty well,&uot; Tam Winston said. &uot;They came out ready to play tonight, unlike last night. We played really good defense, and Dee pitched a really good ball game.&uot;

Jake Winston went to third on an error off the bat off Matt Souderes and scored on a Devin Barnes groundout to first. The 12th ran came in when Souderes scored on a wild throw to home for the 12-2 lead.

&uot;I don’t think it was nerves,&uot; Sullivan said. &uot;Mason threw a very good ball game. He kept us in the game. We had our chances to get up on them, and we didn’t do it. If we could have made our plays, it would have been a 5-2 ball game or 4-2 ball game. We didn’t make our plays.&uot;

Winnsboro tacked on a run in the first and second innings off Garrison but didn’t get a hit in the last two innings. In the first Ryan Neuroth scored on a Liles groundout, and in the second Tyler Waller singled, went to second on a Britt Grieme single, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a passed ball.

But in the third Garrison allowed just a walk but got the runner forced out at second. In the fourth he retired the side in order.

&uot;Dee did real well,&uot; Tam Winston said. &uot;He came in last night and pitched two innings, and he threw four tonight before the 10-run rule. He came out and pitched in the heat. Dee showed a lot of poise by staying in there tonight.&uot;

Vidalia got three runs in the first with the help of two errors as Jake Winston, Souderes and Jamal Davis came around to score. In the third two more Winnsboro errors helped Vidalia put three more on the board for a 6-2 lead.

South Franklin vs. Catahoula

South Franklin rallied to take an 11-9 lead in the top of the sixth after trailing 6-2 earlier in the game.

A final score was not available at press time.

South Franklin rallied for four runs in the fourth and one in the fifth to claim the lead. The four runs in the fourth came on no hits as Michael Whitley walked, Brady Moroni and Hunter Walker were each hit by a pitch and Greg Parks reached on a fielder’s choice.

All four came around to score.