VIDALIA —Vidalia High School’s Gabby Morace delivered a strong message to freshman pitcher Sara Cockerham with perhaps its postseason hopes on the line.

“(Morace) said, ‘Sara, this is my senior year … help us get out of this,’” Vidalia coach Forrest Foster said.

The freshman hurler came through.

Cockerham induced two pop outs and recorded a strikeout to escape a bases-loaded fifth-inning jam to help propel the Lady Vikings to a 10-8 win over Harrisonburg High School at the Viking Softball Classic.

The Lady Vikings (9-9) went 1-2 in the tournament, as they fell to 11-10 Friday night to South Terrebone and 12-3 Saturday morning to Franklin Parish.

“They knew if we lost, we were going to be out of the playoffs,” Foster said. “It’s a big win.”

Harrisonburg (7-7) jumped out to a 3-0 first-inning advantage and led by as much as 5-1.

“This is prom weekend, and it’s one of the biggest weekends of the year (for high school kids),” Foster said. “It’s been real difficult to get that off of our mind all week.”

Vidalia managed to shake off the rust to bounce back and score seven runs in the top of the fifth to grab an 8-5 lead.

Shelbi Cross capped the rally with a run-scoring double to left and later came around to score on a passed ball. Cross finished with two hits in the game.

“That was huge, because the girls’ heads were really down,” Foster said. “They were sitting around thinking, ‘I could be headed to prom.’ The girls showed character.”

Sophomore hurler Shelbie Vinet started for the Lady Vikings but was replaced by Cockerham in the bottom of the fifth. The sophomore pitcher finished with 10 strikeouts.

“Shelbie had a lot of strikeouts, and I think she had 10 last night,” Foster said. “She struggled a good bit in the first two innings (against Harrisonburg), but she kept battling, and came back and got strong. She kept us in it.”

Cockerham hit the first three batters she faced, but bounced strongly to escape the jam.

“They battled and battled and pulled the win out,” Foster said.

Katelyn McCarver led the Lady Vikings with four base hits, while Morace, Madison Johnston, Skylar Adams, Kelsi Cavasos each recorded single hits.

Vidalia will be back in action Monday when it hosts Carroll High School.