VIDALIA, La. &045; The hard shot up the middle for a single may have scored a run, but it scored much bigger than that for Lauren Clayton.

Clayton &045; as a hitter, at least &045; may be back to her old self after missing two weeks following a broken nose. She had a key hit in the sixth inning as the Lady Vikings broke a scoreless tie with three runs for a 3-0 win over Block Tuesday.

Clayton the shortstop may not return for a while. She played shortstop Tuesday after returning to the field over the weekend at the Warren Central tournament.

&uot;I’m glad to be back out there,&uot; said Clayton, who was out two weeks after taking a foul ball to the face at the Tioga tournament. &uot;There was nothing I could do. I just had to sit there and watch them play. When I can get some practice in the infield, I’ll play after that. It just depends on how the ball moves on the field. I don’t want to be scared of it.&uot;

That may be just a matter of time before she gets back to the position she anchored last year for the Lady Vikings. She played center with Chelsie McElwee stepping in at shortstop, and both played well up the middle Tuesday as the Lady Vikings made just one error to Block’s seven in what turned out to be the difference in the game.

Clayton suffered a broken nose and a slight fracture above the eyes from the foul ball. She now hits with a facemask on her batting helmet.

&uot;The doctor said not to go back until she’s had practice there, and we haven’t had practice,&uot; Vidalia head coach Gary Paul Parnham said. &uot;We were in the gym (Monday) with the rain. What we’re waiting on before we move her to shortstop is to get her some ground balls. And that’s not to take anything away from Chelsie right now at shortstop, who’s doing a great job there.

&uot;But you put (Clayton) in the outfield, and she’s one of the best outfielders in the state. I wish I had two of her.&uot;

Clayton had the biggest hit of the game for the Lady Vikings in the sixth when she lined one up the middle to drive in Bridget Waller for the third run of the game.

The Lady Vikings had just four hits off Block hard-throwing right-hander Glynda Butts but put the ball in play enough to force the Lady Bears into miscues on defense.

&uot;I don’t know what it was &045; we just had to warm up to her,&uot; Clayton said. &uot;She’s a very good pitcher, and we’ve practiced a lot on hitting fastballs. Coach says we do better when we face better pitching than we do against slower ones. But they’ve always had a tough team. Every year it’s good competition.&uot;

The Lady Vikings struggled to move runners over in the first five innings, but the wheels fell off for Block in the sixth thanks to four errors. M.K. Golden reached base on an error to lead off, and the Lady Bears couldn’t field a ball off the bat of McElwee to put runners at second and third.

Waller then grounded back to the mound, but the throw was low and Golden scored the game’s first run. McElwee then scored on Chelsey Knapp’s groundout to third before Clayton singled in Waller.

&uot;That’s our young team,&uot; Block head coach Kerry Kirby said. &uot;I’ve got two eighth-graders, a ninth-grader and four 10th-graders. Glynda is my only senior. We’re young. We’ve been playing teams really close lately, but we just have a few errors. I think that’s the sign of a young team.

&uot;We’ll keep working hard. We start district the last of next week, and that’s what we’ve got our sights set on.&uot;

The Lady Vikings put runners on base in every inning prior to the sixth and could have given pitcher Christy Corley room to work with, but Butts got the outs she needed every time. Clayton was left stranded on third in the first inning when Butts got a strikeout, and the Lady Vikings left the bases loaded in the second.

The Lady Vikings had just four hits off Butts with two coming from Clayton.

&uot;We hit her better the last time we played them,&uot; Parnham said. &uot;I don’t know. We put runners in scoring position and just didn’t get them in. All we needed was a little ground ball to second. Clayton’s hit was the hardest-hit ball we had. But we battled through it. We’ve been going through some tough times. To battle through like we did, I’m pleased.&uot;

But Corley, however, didn’t need much room to work with. She was solid the first time through Block’s lineup and got the outs later in the game while allowing three hits and striking out six.

Jamie Ross reached on a fielder’s choice in the second and went to second with two outs before Corley got a strikeout to end the inning. Megan McMillin led off the sixth with a single to right, but the Lady Vikings got a double play off a bunt when Knapp fielded the short pop-up and threw to Emily Raley at first for the double play.

&uot;The first inning she was a little shaky with some of her pitches, but she got in a groove,&uot; Parnham said. &uot;Our record is deceiving. We should be 10-3. She’s pitched well enough to have won 10 ball games. Our defense looked better today than what we looked last weekend.&uot;