MERIDIAN — The Franklin County Lady Bulldogs finally picked up their first win of the season Saturday afternoon as they rallied from an early deficit to defeat the Bibb County (Ala.) Lady Choctaws 2-1 in their second game of the day at the Clarkdale Spring Fling Tournament held at Northeast Park.

It took a solid pitching performance from the combination of winning pitcher Harley McKay and starting pitcher Emily Smith as well as some inconsistent pitching by Bibb County for Franklin County to its winless streak.

Lady Bulldogs head coach Dana Smith said it was great for her young team to finally get their first victory of the season.

“The monkey’s off our backs. We just have to work now,” Smith added.

Smith allowed one earned run on two hits and walked two in two innings. McKay came on in relief and allowed no runs on three hits, one walk and two hit batters to go along with two strikeouts.

Bibb County scored its lone run in the top of the first inning before the Lady Bulldogs tied the game in the bottom of the second inning. Franklin County took the lead for good with one run in the bottom of the third.

Franklin County’s first game of the day didn’t go so well as the Lady Bulldogs lost to the Germantown Lady Mavericks 8-0. Avery Burns picked up the win for Germantown as she held the Lady Bulldogs to just three hits.

Franklin County (1-9-2) plays at 5:30 p.m. Monday for a varsity doubleheader against Prentiss to start the MHSAA Region 7-3A portion of its schedule.

Vidalia wins two at Jena Tournament

JENA, La. — The Vidalia Lady Vikings took two different paths to win both of their games Saturday at the Jena Tournament, first having to rally to defeat the Block Lady Bears 9-8 in eight innings in a game that started at 11 a.m. and then taking care of the LaSalle Lady Tigers 8-3 in the afternoon.

In its first game, Block and Vidalia went back and forth for the lead early on. The Lady Bears scored one run in the top of the first inning, only to see the Lady Vikings put up three runs in the bottom of the first.

The Lady Bears countered with four runs in the top of the second for a 5-3 lead. The Lady Vikings scored one run in the bottom of the third to make it a 5-4 game. Block then struck for three runs in the top of the fourth to take an 8-4 lead, but Vidalia responded with four runs in the bottom of the fifth to tie the game at 8-8. Neither team scored in the final two innings of regulation and Vidalia scored the game-winning run with one out in the bottom of the eighth.

Laura Perilloux went the distance for Vidalia and allowed no earned runs on nine hits and one walk and struck out four to get the win. Micahla Hughes went seven and one-third innings for Block and gave up six earned runs on 12 hits and one walk while striking out four.

Katelynn Bertelsen went 2-for-4 with three RBIs and Savannah McCarver was 2-for-4 with two RBIs to lead Vidalia at the plate. Block was led by Maura Cooper, who was 3-for-5 with two doubles and one RBI. Hughes went 2-for-4 with a double and three RBIs.

In the second game, both Vidalia and LaSalle scored all of their runs in the first three innings. The Lady Vikings scored five runs in the top of the first inning, one in the top of the second and two in the top of the third. The Lady Tigers scored one run in each inning.

Taylor Rodgers was the winning pitcher as she allowed two earned runs on three hits and three walks to go with two strikeouts in three innings. Perilloux went the final four innings and gave up just three hits and struck out five.

Cassie Gonzales had a big game at the plate for the Lady Vikings as she went 4-for-4 with a double. Katelin Temple went 2-for-3 with a double and two RBIs.

Vidalia (10-6) next plays at 4 p.m. Monday at Avoyelles.