VIDALIA — Down to their final three outs and with their season hanging in the balance, the Vidalia Vikings decided they weren’t ready to throw in the towel quite yet.

Vidalia scored two runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to take a 6-5 win over Bolton and keep their hopes of a District 3-3A championship and playoff berth alive.

“We had to have this win,” Vikings coach Johnny Lee Hoffpauir said. “We made some mistakes out in the field but we just kept scrapping. It was like the Vidalia teams of old, hang around and hang around, and give ourselves a chance to win at the end.”

With the win, Vidalia improved to 10-11 overall and 5-3 in district play. Only the district champion is guaranteed a playoff spot, and the Vikings’ district might not be strong enough for any other team to be selected based on their power ranking.

That’s why Monday’s game was a must-win.

“It’s still not over,” Hoffpauir said. “We’ve still got to win at least one of our next two (against Avoyelles and Marksville) to have a shot. A lot can still happen.”

It didn’t look like much would happen for Vidalia as they entered the bottom of the seventh.

The Vikings trailed 5-4 and had only mustered three hits in the first six innings before John Brixey led off the bottom of the seventh with a double.

Pinch runner Jamal Davis advanced to third on a passed ball and Ben Parnham walked to put runners on first and third.

The Vikings then executed a double steal to perfection. Parnham was caught in a rundown just long enough to allow Davis to score the tying run. Parnham also made it to second base safely on the play.

An infield single by Seth Barlow put runners back at the corners and Trey Lillie ended the game a few pitches later with another infield hit.

The seventh-inning rally gave a much-deserved pitching victory to Mason Ozburn.

The Vidalia hurler pitched a complete-game and allowed just three hits, although two of them were home runs by Bolton’s Chris Vianche and Christian Extine.

He was also hurt by four Vidalia errors, including an error in the sixth inning that allowed the tying and go-ahead runs to score for the Bears.

“I’m very proud of Mason,” Hoffpauir said. “That’s the Mason Ozburn I’ve been looking for. He stepped up and did a heck of a job tonight.”

After falling behind 1-0 in the first inning, Vidalia took the lead in the second when two runs scored on a sacrifice bunt by Lillie.

Bolton tied the score in the third on Vianche’s homer and took the lead in the top of the fourth on Extine’s blast.

However, Vidalia retook the lead in the bottom of the inning thanks to four consecutive walks by Bolton pitchers and a sacrifice fly by Ozburn.

Bolton scored two in the sixth thanks to two Viking errors, which set up the dramatic bottom of the seventh.

“I told the team (before the bottom of the seventh) that we’re not looking for one hero, do it as a team,” Hoffpauir said. “Just calm down, have some fun and see what happens. Maybe this win will boost us up and get us through this next stretch and into the playoffs.”