Christy Corley and Lauren Clayton can both check off a to-do list no many others in the Miss-Lou or anywhere around have.

Won a state championship ring?

Check.

Made it back to the state tournament.

Double check.

And as the two leave the Vidalia program as others have done before them, they’ve passed on the legacy of what it takes to get to that level and how winning is so much more than scoring more than your opponent by game’s end.

They helped the Lady Vikings make the state tournament last month for the second time in three years &045; and maybe the more improbable trips of the two &045; but now leave it to the core of young players to see how far they can take it.

&uot;Jenny (Watson), Jaci (DeWeese) and Miranda (Doughty) &045; I looked up to them,&uot; said Corley, who started at second base as a freshman and first base as a sophomore when the Lady Vikings won their first state championship.

&uot;I saw the heart they had. Seniors play a big role, and you don’t realize it until you’re a senior. You don’t realize how much everyone looks up to seniors until you’re in the position and they look up to you.&uot;

Clayton and Corley have some leaps and bounds since they started out, just like the seniors before them did and the freshmen and sophomores this spring did. But the two seniors were key cogs on a team that got to Sulphur despite a number of ups and downs and suffered a tough 2-1 loss to Kinder April 29.

For that, Corley and Clayton earned spots on The Natchez Democrat’s 2004-05 All-Metro first team.

Clayton’s first year to play was that state championship season, and that set the tone for her career as well.

&uot;The seniors that year did a good job of leading us,&uot; she said. &uot;Even in that year, we had our ups and downs. Then it came to the end, and they did what they had to do and we won a state championship that year. We all wanted it so bad and had the heart. That’s what got us there &045; we had the heart.&uot;

They both started off their high school careers quite humbly &045; both had serious doubts about getting into the batter’s box in a game and being able to hit the ball. But as confidence grew and they watched those ahead of them carry the team, things started to change and they picked up their game to levels they never thought possible.

Corley, the workhorse pitcher on the mound, was just as steady as Doughty, Amanda Stricklin and the long line of dominant pitchers before her. Clayton blossomed into one of the better leadoff hitters in the region. And the other seniors &045; Emily Raley, Chelsey Knapp and Krista Clark &045; followed suit to keep the team together when the potential was there for the wheels to come off.

&uot;Keep the heart &045; that’s one thing all the seniors have,&uot; Corley said. &uot;And dedication. The juniors coming up as seniors, step it up and be a leader.&uot;

The Lady Vikings will have to replace both and the contributions each brought to do so. Corley finished the season with a 1.27 ERA with 191 strikeouts along with eight shutouts, while Clayton survived a freak accident early in the season to hit .355 with 16 runs batted in while hitting leadoff.

&uot;I know we had young players this year, and it’s big for young players to step up,&uot; Clayton said. &uot;There were times when (we) had to be mean, but I don’t like being yelled at. Everyone makes a mistake, but just learn from it.&uot;

Corley hopes everything she’s accomplished in her two years starting on the mound will lead to an opportunity at the next level. She had a call from East Central earlier this spring, but the valedictorian of her class would love to walk on at ULL.

&uot;I am very, very proud of our team,&uot; Corley said. &uot;We weren’t expected to do anything. The only thing I can say about this team is we had our ups and downs but in the end we were a team. We had the heart and dedication.&uot;