HARRISONBURG, La. — Less than 24 hours after handing Grace Christian School its first loss of the season at home, the Vidalia High School Vikings were right back in action as they took on LHSAA Class 5A L.W. Higgins High School at the Harrisonburg Tournament.

Yet playing a team from the highest classification in the LHSAA did not seem to bother Class 2A Vidalia as the Vikings shut out the Hurricanes from Marrero, La. 7-0 Friday afternoon behind a 12-strikeout performance by Tristan Weatherly.

“They’re a very young team,” Vikings head coach Michael Norris said about Higgins. “But we did some things (today) that we haven’t done all year. We had several multiple hitters. We executed at the plate better. We moved runners over. We bunted a couple of times.”

After a scoreless first inning, Vidalia scored five runs in the bottom of the second inning to take the lead for good. And that was really all the run support that Weatherly would need as he held Higgins to just four hits and walked four in a complete-game outing.

“Tristan was a big difference for us. He was around the strike zone all night for us,” Norris said. “The other night against Grace Christian, we had trouble throwing strikes.”

The Vikings scored one run in the bottom of the fourth inning and one run in the bottom of the fifth. Weatherly aided his cause by going 2-for-3 at the plate. Brandon Bozeman went 2-for-3 with a double while Adam Eames had a double, Dominik Harveston was 2-for-3, and both Dylan LaPrairie and Brett Walsworth were 2-for-4.

“We’ve only been able to practice two times in the last two weeks. But a win is a win,” Norris said.

Vidalia (4-2) has a game today at the Harrisonburg Tournament at 4 p.m. against Avoyelles Public Charter School.

Monterey goes 1-1 at Harrisonburg Tournament

HARRISONBURG, La. — The Monterey High School Wolves split a pair of games at the Harrisonburg Tournament late last week.

On Thursday night, LHSAA Class B Monterey defeated the Class 5A L.W. Higgins High School Hurricanes 10-5. That was the Wolves’ second win over a Class 5A team this season.

But on Friday night, the Wolves’ bat were held in check as they lost to the host Harrisonburg High School Bulldogs 4-1. No information on either game was available.

Monterey (3-1) returns to action on Thursday, March 14 at 4 p.m. when it travels to Mansura, La. to take on Avoyelles Public Charter School.

Vidalia 8, Grace Christian 5 (Thurs. night)

VIDALIA — Peyton Fort threw four effective innings while five players for Vidalia High School had a double as the Vikings held on for an 8-5 win over the Grace Christian School Warriors Thursday night.

Fort ended up being one of five pitchers used by head coach Michael Norris. And for the most part, he held a good-hitting and then-undefeated Grace Christian team in check. He allowed two runs on two hits with three strikeouts and three walks.

Those two runs he gave up were in the top of the third inning, when the Warriors took a 2-1 lead. But Vidalia (3-2) responded with one run in the bottom of the third to tie the game at 2-2 and two runs each in the bottom of the fourth and the bottom of the fifth for a 6-2 advantage.

Grace Christian (12-1) scored three runs in the top of the sixth inning to cut Vidalia’s lead down to a single run. However, the Vikings got two of those runs back in the bottom of the sixth.

C.J. Chatman, Dominik Harveston, Dylan LaPrairie, Nick Melton, and Tony Tolliver each belted out a two-bagger for the Vikings. Ethan Devanie had a double for the Warriors.