BUNKIE, La. — Despite having fewer hits than Vidalia, Bunkie was able to take advantage of four costly errors by the Vikings defense as the Panthers held on for a 13-9 win Saturday afternoon in District 3-3A action.

Bunkie went into the bottom of the fifth inning leading Vidalia 8-4. Still, Vidalia head coach Tim Herndon felt it was either team’s game to win. That was until the Vikings’ defense began to unravel and the Panthers made them pay.

“One or two runs scored off one of (the errors) and two runs scored off another,” Herndon said. “We didn’t commit an error until the fifth inning. The five runs they scored in the fifth and sixth innings was the difference in the game.”

The Panthers scored twice in the bottom of the fifth to take a 10-4 lead. After Vidalia got one of those runs back in the top of the sixth inning, Bunkie scored three times in the bottom of the sixth thanks to a leadoff home run by Seth Strong and an error.

“(We made) untimely mistakes today. We didn’t make a lot of mistakes, but the ones we made were at crucial times in the ball game. You can’t do that and win,” Herndon said.

Vidalia scored four times in the top of the seventh inning to cut Bunkie’s lead to 13-9 on a three-run home run by Caleb Vines and a solo shot from Devin Barnes. However, that would be as close as the Vikings would get.

And they had more than their fair share of opportunities to win this district game. They out-hit Bunkie 10-8 and the Panthers’ pitchers walked nine Vikings batters.

“But we left a lot on base. We left 11 guys on base today,” Herndon said. “We couldn’t get a timely hit today. We couldn’t get a hit down in the bottom of the order.”

The Vikings left the bases loaded three times during the game. And on two occasions they had the bases loaded with just one out and still were unable to bring in any runs.

Vines went 2-for-3 while Jamal Davis was 2-for-4 and losing pitcher Nathan Bozeman was 2-for-5.

Vidalia (5-11, 3-3) plays at Cathedral next Tuesday with the junior varsity game at 4 p.m. and the varsity game at 6 p.m.

Franklin County 17,

South Pike 0

BUDE — Preston Shelton had a career game at the plate with two home runs and seven runs batted in. He also pitched a one-hit shutout as the Franklin County Bulldogs took care of the South Pike Eagles in four innings Saturday afternoon.

Shelton went the distance as he struck out six batters and worked around a couple of walks. His two official at-bats were also as impressive. He got the Bulldogs going with a three-run home run in the bottom of the first inning and blasted a grand slam in the bottom of the third inning to help give them an 8-0 lead.

Franklin County then ended the game early by scoring nine times in the bottom of the fourth.

Austin McFarland and Calvin Robinson also had big games at the plate. McFarland went 4-for-4 and Robinson was 3-for-3 with a double. Fred Coleman also had a double and went 2-for-3.

Franklin County (11-6) plays at Cathedral on Monday with the JV game at 5 p.m. and the varsity game at 7 p.m.

Monterey 14,

Grace Christian 8

ALEXANDRIA, La. — Hunter Frey got the win on the mound and helped his own cause by going 3-for-4 with a double as the Monterey Wolves rallied to defeat the Grace Christian Warriors Saturday afternoon.

After jumping out to a 1-0 lead by the end of the first inning, Monterey saw its lead disappear quickly as Grace Christian scored six runs in the bottom of the second inning and it looked like the home team was on its way to easy win.

But the Wolves would not let that happen. They scored one in the top of the third inning and two runs each in the top of the fourth and fifth innings to tie the game up at 6-6. The Warriors momentarily slowed down Monterey’s rally by scoring twice in the bottom of the fifth to go up 8-6.

That would be Grace Christian’s last lead of the game. Monterey scored three times in the top of the sixth inning and five more runs in the top of the seventh. The Wolves piled up 14 hits and took advantage of five errors while the Warriors, despite that one big inning, had just seven hits.

Five Monterey players ended up with at least two hits. In addition to what Frey did, Trey Book went 3-for-4 while Jeffrey Spann, Hayden Castle and Ashton Holland each went 2-for-4. David Slater was 3-for-4 and Matt Margheim was 2-for-3 to lead Grace Christian.

Monterey (5-10) hosts Rapides in a District 6-B game Tuesday at 4 p.m.