With his hands resting just above his knees, Vidalia High School’s Christian Fort stood at third base, waiting patiently for the perfect opening. And just as Cathedral’s Craig Bradley threw what would be the last pitch of the game, Fort took off.

With the bases loaded, Fort found home on a wild pitch to score the winning run for Vidalia in eight innings Saturday, 7-6.

The Vikings totaled three wins on the day, and rallied back from two deficits to mark its first over Cathedral this season.

“It’s good to have three wins in a row,” Vidalia coach Mike Norris said. “A month ago, this team wouldn’t have done that. To see that, it was big.”

After Vidalia’s Dom Harveston hit an RBI single to tie the game in the bottom of the seventh, 5-5, Connor Branton scored the final run for Cathedral in the extra inning.

Tony Tolliver led off the bottom of the eighth with a double down the left field line, and Fort followed with the RBI-double to tie the game once again, 6-6.

“Coach just said I have to get there,” Fort said. “We just had to come out and win the game. It boosts our confidence way up.”

Fort ended the night with two hits, and Tristan Weatherly and Tolliver also had two.

“We have a motto this week called ‘team swings,’” Norris said. “We had been taking too many selfish swings, and now they are buying into it. We had two balls hit in the corner and didn’t quit.”

Things looked promising for Cathedral after Landon Havard hit a home run in the top of the fifth, also scoring Jae Eidt to put the Green Wave up, 5-4.

Cathedral coach Craig Beesley said the loss was caused mostly by a break in concentration.

“They beat us with intensity and the desire to win,” he said. “They wanted it more than our kids did tonight, and hopefully we will learn from it. We got behind tonight, which is never a good situation.”

Alongside Havard, Ben White added two RBIs for the Green Wave.

J.R. Davis earned the win for the Vikings, pitching the last two innings with two strikeouts.

Cathedral (8-6) will face Columbia Academy Tuesday on the road, and Vidalia (9-6) is set to play Monday at Avoyelles.

Vidalia Tournament

Game 1

Vidalia 11, Block 1

Tristan Weatherly struck out nine batters to earn the win for Vidalia over Block, 11-1, in five innings.

Cam Rodgers batted in three runs, and Leo Lozano added two RBIs to lead the offense for the Vikings.

Block registered just two hits, with Noah Odom and KJ O’steen ending with one each.

Block (4-6) will face Jena at 4 p.m. Monday on the road.

Game 2

Vidalia 11, Monterey 6

Monterey was first to score, but a five-run third inning pushed Vidalia to an 11-6 victory over the Wolves.

Weatherly hit a two-RBI triple to highlight the inning. He also scored two runs during the win.

Monterey stayed consistent at the plate, scoring one run in each of the first six innings.

Reid Richard led the effort for the Wolves batting 2-4 with two RBIs and two runs scored. Alex Humphries also tallied two hits and scored two runs.

“We got a couple more timely hits today,” Monterey coach Eric Richard said.

Although his team didn’t come out on top, Richard said Monterey looked much improved compared to its loss to Mangham Friday night, 11-1.

“We competed,” Richard said. “When things could have gone south, we either made a play in the field or got a good pitch. It was always something that kind of kept us in the game. As long as we are competing and trying to do our very best, that’s all I can ask of this group. They did that today.”

The Vikings’ only multiple hitter was Chris Linder. Vidalia’s lone senior went 2-3 with an RBI and a run.

Monterey (5-5) will take on Oak Hill at 4 p.m. Tuesday at home.