It had been several years since the Valley Central Vikings had beaten the Warwick Wildcats in an Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association Division II softball game.

Despite building a six-run lead, the Vikings held off a Warwick rally in the sixth inning to escape on Thursday with a 7-5 victory, their eighth in a row to start the season.

“That was great,” said Valley Central shortstop Emilia Brundage, who led the Vikings with a home run, a triple and three RBIs. “That’s the first time in three years and it’s such a great feeling. The entire team did great.

Energy was high. It was amazing.”

It was Brundage’s blast that got the Vikings rolling. After two scoreless innings, Adrianna Ferraro led off the third with an infield single. Brundage followed with a two-run home run over the right-field fence to give the Vikings a 2-0 lead.

“That lit the flame,” Brundage said.

“It really brought the energy up and everyone was ready to go.”

Ready to go to the tune of three more runs in the fourth, a rally again started by Ferraro and Brundage, this time with two out.

Ferraro slapped another single and Brundage went back to right field.

However, this time the field contained her blast and she beat the throw to third base for an RBI triple.

Eleanor O’Neil singled Brundage home and scored on Emma Moore’s double.

“It was a true team effort,” Valley Central coach Katie Farrugia said.

“They all came through. We had a couple of girls struggling coming into this game and they opened up today and helped lead the team to the win.”

The Wildcats got a run in the fourth inning on an RBI double by Katie Fiore.

Emma Moore hit a two-run home run in the sixth inning to give the Vikings a 7-1 lead.

Through the first five innings, Bella Mayo had safely navigated the Wildcats’ lineup, and her defense was up to the vast array of hard-hit softballs. However, the Wildcats got her for three straight hits to start the sixth.

That’s when Farrugia went to junior Kori Geiselhart, who let in two runs via groundout. She hit Melinda Garby to reload the bases and then gave up a two-run single to Eva Garafalo to pull the Wildcats to within two runs before escaping the jam.

“That’s not easy to come in with the bases loaded and get the job done, but she did it,” Farrugia said. “It was a close game, but she went in confident.”

The sixth inning wasn’t easy either, as the Wildcats put the tying runs on base, but Fiore grounded out to end the game.

“It was a statement for us, without a doubt,” Brundage said.

It was the first of two straight league games for the Vikings, who visited the Minisink Valley Warriors on Friday night. Saturday’s game against the Goshen Gladiators was postponed until May 11.

The Vikings lost a four-run lead and suffered a walk-off loss on a Hannah Ringus single, as they fell to the Warriors, 6-5.

“I feel like we are preaching team to them day in and day out and they are truly emulating that on and off the field,” Farrugia said. “They’re friends before they’re teammates, and they help each other out and they pick each other up. They do what they need to do.”