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By ANDREW SIMONSON | Sports Editor

The Vincent Yellow Jackets continued their strong start to the season with a great day of tournament action followed by a wild rivalry win.

Vincent defeated the Winterboro Bulldogs 15-6, the Central Cougars of Coosa County 19-5 and Billingsley Bears 12-7 on Saturday, March 1 before defeating the B.B. Comer Tigers on the road 24-11 on Monday, March 3.

In the first game of the tournament against Winterboro, the Jackets got ahead early in the bottom of the first thanks to an error and a Madisyn King RBI single.

However, Winterboro erased that 2-0 lead in the top of the second with a pair of runs late in the inning to tie the game at 2-2.

A walk and a double to start the bottom of the second got Vincent in business and led to a Kylie Newton two-run single and another pair of RBI singles from Maggie Walker and McKenzie Fields, increasing the lead to 6-2.

The Bulldogs then had four straight batters reach in the top of the third and capped it off with a three-run double to slash the deficit to 6-5.

The Jackets blew the game open in the bottom half of the inning, earning six runs off RBI singles from Ava Grace Waldrop and Walker, RBI doubles from Fields and Madisyn King and an RBI single from Jaci Young to take the lead to 12-5.

An RBI groundout in the top of the fourth cut the deficit to six, but Vincent finished off the win with a run off a passed ball, an RBI single from Waldrop and a Fields RBI double.

Fields, Walker and Harley King all finished 3-for-3 as Fields had four RBI, two runs and a walk, Walker earned four runs and two RBI and King scored three runs.

The Jackets then raced ahead to a 4-0 lead against Central-Coosa with a Gracie Phillips RBI single, Fields two-run triple and an RBI ground out from Natalie Schiller in the top of the first.

That lead didn’t last long as the Cougars tied up the game in the bottom of the inning. Two runs off wild pitches led to an RBI single and a passed ball to tie the game at 4-4.

Vincent got right to work responding with a massive second inning. After the first two batters reached, the Jackets got a run off a wild pitch followed by a Phillips RBI single. Fields then got a two-run inside-the-park home run to take the lead to 8-4.

Vincent wouldn’t relinquish the lead from there and added 11 more runs in the inning. Harley King kept the scoring going with an RBI single before RBI singles from Newton and Waldrop along with a steal of home made the lead 12-4.

The Jackets finished the job with RBI singles from Fields, Madisyn King, Harley King and Waldrop along with RBI doubles from Young and Newton. Vincent allowed just one run in the bottom of the third in response as it took the 19-5 win.

Fields went 4-for-4 with five RBI and three runs and Waldrop was 3-for-3 with three runs, an RBI and a walk. Phillips, Newton and the Kings also each had multi-hit games in the win.

The Jackets carried that offensive momentum into their matchup with Billingsley as they scored seven runs in the first inning.

Jaci Wallace kicked the game off with a two-run double before Madisyn King got a run off a pop out and Young hit an RBI single for the 4-0 lead. Newton and Waldrop added RBI singles later in the inning with Waldrop’s driving in two runs to make the lead 7-0.

However, a pair of two-run hits briefly cut into that advantage as a Bears two-run single followed by a triple made it a 7-4 game.

Madisyn King got an RBI triple of her own in the top of the second before she came home off an RBI ground out to go up 9-4.

After getting out of a bases-loaded jam in the bottom half of the frame, Vincent loaded up the bases on the first three batters of the third. That led to an RBI single from Fields and another RBI triple from Madisyn King, this one driving in two runs for the 12-4 lead.

Billingsley scored three times in the bottom of the fourth but couldn’t get any more offense than that as the Jackets finished the tournament 3-0.

King went 2-for-4 with a team-high four RBI and a run. Walker, Fields and Wallace each went 2-for-4 as well as Walker had two runs, Fields earned an RBI and two runs and Wallace secured two RBI.

Schiller went 2-for-2 with a walk and a run while Newton was 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run.

Vincent then had a wild road game against one of its biggest rivals in B.B. Comer.

The teams went run-for-run in the first two innings and were tied 3-3 before the Jackets surged ahead in the third with six runs. A pair of RBI ground outs led to a Newton RBI single, a two-run double from Waldrop and an RBI double from Walker for a 9-3 lead.

The Tigers cut the deficit to four in the bottom of the third before Vincent rallied again in the top of the fourth to increase the lead to 13-5. Young, Schiller and Waldrop all had RBI singles during the inning.

However, B.B. Comer plated six runs in the bottom half of the inning, slashing the deficit to two in the process.

Vincent answered in an emphatic way, going up by four off a two-run double by Young in the top of the fifth before the Jackets scored nine runs in the top of the sixth to trigger the run rule and earn the win.

Wallace and Fields each went 5-for-6 as Wallace got three RBI and two runs while Fields had four runs and an RBI. Madisyn King was 4-for-6 with four RBI and three runs. Schiller finished 4-for-5 with three runs and an RBI. Waldrop plated four runs in a 3-for-6 day with two runs. Young had a team-high five RBI in a 3-for-5 day with two runs, and Newton and Harley King each had multi-hit games.

Vincent would go on to lose its area opener against Ranburne 9-4 on Tuesday, March 4. The 8-3 Jackets will next play on Thursday, March 6 against Montevallo.