VIDALIA, La. &045; Just as quickly as things turned around for the Vidalia Lady Vikings, they went back down.

When you stumble like they did in Monday’s 3-0 loss to Caldwell after playing so well up until then, it may be worse to take. It’s as if you get invited to the big dance, get all dressed up and ready to go and get told at the door you can’t come in.

That’s why losing the game Monday was as hard to take as swallowing dirt. The Lady Vikings had just one hit, committed four errors and struck out 10 times against Caldwell’s No. 2 pitcher.

&uot;It seemed like we came up here and didn’t play this game with any heart,&uot; VHS head coach Gary Paul Parnham said. &uot;I don’t want to say we all didn’t, but we didn’t play with any passion. I’ve got no excuses, and I don’t know how to explain it to you. I’m pretty disappointed in how we hit the ball today.

&uot;We had won three or four games in a row, and we go to Sterlington and win in extra innings. That’s the type of game you can build on and take some pride in. We turned around today, and it was just like we didn’t want to be here.&uot;

The Lady Vikings struggled at the plate the entire game against Caldwell freshman Kristin Childress, in for No. 1 starter Savannah Ratcliff while she recovers from shin splints in the middle of district. Give credit to Childress for throwing hard, throwing strikes and mixing in the changeup in the later innings effectively.

Childress retired the first 15 batters she faced and would have had a no-hitter if it wasn’t for Jamiee Jordan’s two-out single in the seventh.

&uot;You have to have your heart in it and have to have passion,&uot; said Vidalia pitcher Christy Corley, who was charged with two unearned runs and took the loss. &uot;It wasn’t there. We’re better than that. We’re two teams &045; we can play an awesome team and beat them and play an average team and get beat. It’s two different teams. We just need to get it together and keep it together. That’s our biggest thing &045; keeping it together.&uot;

The Lady Vikings fanned 10 times against Childress &045; six looking, including the final out of the game after Jordan singled to right center. Emily Raley’s flyout to shallow right in the first inning was the only ball Childress allowed out of the infield until Jordan’s single.

Not bad for a freshman who was asked to give the starter a breather.

&uot;She pitched a heck of a game today,&uot; Caldwell head coach Crickett Crockett said. &uot;She was mixing up things with the fastball and the curveball. She mixed it up real well today. She had a stomach virus yesterday, and we were worried about her. I’d say that’s as well as she’s pitched this year.&uot;

Corley didn’t throw bad and had a pitchers’ duel going for first four innings as both teams had just one hit heading into the fifth. That’s when the Lady Vikings stumbled a bit in the fifth behind Corley, and the Lady Spartans had three hits to break the game open.

Corley struck out the first batter, gave up a single to Nikki Ray but had her forced out at second on a shallow fly from Fawn Hutto for the second out. That’s when the bottom fell out &045; Lauren Davis singled to center, and the throw home was off the mark to allow Hutto to score and Davis to reach second.

Davis then tried to stretch it to third, and the throw was wild to allow Davis to come all the way around to score.

&uot;We had some errors, and that killed us,&uot; Parnham said. &uot;Not to take anything away from Caldwell, they played an error-free game. I felt we should have played them a lot tougher game. One bad defensive inning killed us. It was like the roof fell in.&uot;

Magan Guillory then came with a double, went to third on a wild pitch and scored when Ratcliff reached on an error in the infield for a 3-0 lead.

The Lady Vikings committed another error in the sixth, but it came with two outs and Corley got Hutto to fly out to Mallory Guidroz in left to end the inning.

&uot;That’s one thing I keep trying to tell people &045; if you make an error, you have to get right back up,&uot; Corley said. &uot;Ninety-nine percent of the time the ball is coming right back to you. You’ve got to get right back up from it. Hopefully we can bounce back up, so to speak, and come ready to play tomorrow.&uot;

Childress caught fire in the third inning when she struck out the side with the last two batters looking at third strikes. The right-hander had a perfect game going until Chelsie McElwee walked on a 3-2 pitch to lead off the sixth.