VIDALIA, La. – Vidalia pounded Crowville 11-1 on Friday to join Winnsboro and Cathedral in the semifinals of its own tournament. Cathedral and Winnsboro will square off in one semifinal at 1 p.m. with the Vikings schedule to play the winner of Friday’s late game between Springhill and Hampton (Ark.) at 3:15 p.m. The championship game is scheduled for Saturday night.

Johnny Lee Hoffpauir’s Vikings moved in to the semifinals thanks to an outstanding offensive performance.

Four separate Viking hitters recorded a multi-hit game as Hoffpauir’s squad outhit Crowville 11-5.

Bryan Bennett led the hit parade with a 3-for-4 performance that included a two extra base hits (double, homer). Jarrett Hoffpauir, Bubba Wyles and Trey White each finished the night with two hits.

&uot;The cold weather and the wind certainly made it more difficult to hit tonight, but we did a good job of fighting the elements and putting the ball in play,&uot; Johnny Lee Hoffpauir said. &uot;We made some mental mistakes, especially in our base running, but our hitting was able to carry us to the victory.&uot;

The Vikings’ hitting began with the first batter in the bottom of the first as Jarrett Hoffpauir led off with a single, but he was caught stealing for the first out of the contest. Wyles followed with another single, and he scored on an RBI double Bennett for a 1-0 lead.

The Vidalia advantage grew to 2-0 later in the frame when White picked up a RBI with another single.

A Crowville error led to another run for the Vikings in the bottom of the second as Vidalia spotted starting pitcher Doug Warshaw a 3-0 lead after two innings.

That would be more than enough Warshaw as he limited Crowville to one run on five hits in four innings of work.

&uot;Warshaw really came through for us tonight in his first pitching performance of the year,&uot; Johnny Lee Hoffpauir said. &uot;He has been sick and battling with an injury, but he did a solid job tonight.&uot;

Vidalia added three more runs to its cushion in the bottom of the third, with the big hit coming on a 2 RBI single by Wyles to make it 6-1. Five more runs in the bottom of the fifth pushed the lead into double digits. Bennett led off the bottom half of the inning with a homer to right, and Ryan Boles, Hoffpauir ad Wyles also picked up hits in the big inning. Warshaw collected the win for Vidalia with his four innings of work.

Cathedral 12, Richland 2

Cathedral High’s baseball team scored four runs in the fifth inning to break open a close game as the Green Wave opened up District 6-2A play with a 12-2 win over Richland Friday at Richland.

The Green Wave will return to action in the Vidalia Tournament today when it plays Winnsboro at 1 p.m. in a semifinal matchup.

Cathedral pitcher Charlie Norris was strong on the mound in getting his first win by throwing a complete-game one-hitter while striking out five and walking four.

The Green Wave got only seven hits but was helped by four Richland errors.

&uot;It was cold. We’re still not swinging the bat well,&uot; said Cathedral head coach Ken Beesley, Sr.

Cathedral (4-0-1, 1-0) led only 4-2 after four innings before not only having a big fifth inning, but also scoring four more runs in the seventh inning.

&uot;We need to come out early and be more aggressive,&uot; Beesley said. &uot;We didn’t seem focused at the start. We got better at the end of the game.

&uot;Overall, it’s a win. I’ll take it,&uot; he said. &uot;We’ll play better tomorrow.&uot;