By Garrett Kroeger

VIDALIA — On Saturday night at the Concordia Parish Recreation Complex, the scene looked all too familiar for Cathedral School against Vidalia High School. The Green Wave seemed as if they would get down by 10 or 15 runs and get run ruled by the Vikings.

Earlier this season, Vidalia did run rule Cathedral — 17-2. Yet, this time around was different. The Green Wave did not get run ruled as they only lost 11-9.

“(Cathedral) will always be prepared to hit the ball,” said Vidalia coach Mike Norris. “(The Green Wave) hit well.”

So far this year, Cathedral hasn’t hit well. After the first inning against Vidalia, the Green Wave’s hitting struggles continued as their first three hitters failed to get on base. Plus, the Vikings’ seven run first inning performance gave off the impression that Cathedral was going to get run ruled once again. However, the Green Wave brought their bats as they totaled nine hits against the blue and white.

“They are finally playing Cathedral baseball,” Norris said. “We knew they were going to be tougher this time around.”

The Cathedral bats came alive in the second inning as Landon Lees hit a solo shot over the left field wall.  Then the Green Wave added two more runs latter on in the inning to cut the Vikings’ lead to 7-3. Cathedral allowed Vidalia to rebuild its lead, however, as the the green and white gave up two more runs in the bottom of the second.

After that second inning spark, the Green Wave failed to keep the hitting streak going in the third and fourth as they only tallied one more run. During that cold streak, the Vikings continued to build their lead. But then came the fifth inning.

Cathedral had the bases loaded when Caden Poole stepped up to bat. He took a deep breathe, swung and made contact. Next thing fans saw was Poole jogging around the bases, as he had hit a grand slam.

“He got us within one run,” said Cathedral coach Craig Beesley.

While Poole’s home run got the Green Wave in striking distance, they failed to score after that. Beesley said if Cathedral could have tied the game, it would have had a really good shot to win the game.

Despite not getting even with Vidalia, Beesley was pleased to see his team fight. Especially after that first inning outing.

“I was just glad to see them not roll over after we got down by seven early, after the way we have been playing,” Beesley said. “That speaks highly of our juniors and seniors to be good leaders for us and not allow the younger kids to give up.”

Overall, Beesley believes that was one of Cathedral’s best games of the year. Yet, with the loss, the Green Wave are still winless on the season as they head into district play this Monday at 7 p.m. against Central Private.

For Vidalia, the win puts the Vikings at 8-8 on year after going 2-1 at their own tournament on Saturday. They won the first game of the tournament against Harrisonburg, 15-4, then lost a heartbreaker to Block, 7-6.

Despite not going 3-0 in the tournament, Norris was pleased with his team’s overall performance.

“We swung it well against Harrisonburg and against Block. They threw some guys at us that we haven’t seen before,” Norris said. “We lost 7-6 to Block, but we threw the ball away twice and allowed four unearned runs. If you can’t play defense, you can’t win.”

“We were hoping to go 3-0, but we will take 2-1.”

Norris believes the season officially starts Tuesday as Vidalia opens district play at 6 p.m. on the road against Delhi Charter. And in Norris’ eyes, the Vikings should be seen as one of the favorites to win their district.

“I think we have to be one of the favorites heading into district play,” Norris said. “We got to get the job done. We will see after Delhi Charter.”