Destrehan Ladycats finding groove, Hahnville awaits in district showdown

Tyler Oubre has struck out 40 batters while allowing no runs and four hits over her past four wins.

The next chapter of St. Charles Parish’s storied cross-bridge rivalry could potentially decide the District 7-5A softball championship, as Destrehan visits Hahnville for a Tuesday showdown.

Each team in 7-5A plays through the district schedule once this season, as opposed to facing each team twice a year as it is traditionally. Destrehan and Hahnville faced off earlier this season in non-district play, with Hahnville earning a 2-1 win.

Destrehan hung tough in that one, but to beat its archrival this time and potentially take direct route to a district championship, DHS coach Kenny Montz said it’s clear what his team must improve from the last matchup between the teams.

“We’ve gotta swing the bats,” Montz said. “It’s that simple, and we didn’t last time against them. Against the better teams, we’ve gotta find a way to scratch some runs across … it’ll be tough, because they’re very good.”

Destrehan’s Tyler Oubre pitched a one-hit shutout, while she, Gia Zeringue and Emma Rome each collected two hits to lead the Ladycats’ offense in a 5-0 District 7-5A victory over Thibodaux Tuesday.

Destrehan (10-14) scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning on an RBI double by Gia Zeringue and RBI singles by Oubre and Lainnie Dugas. Rome’s RBI single in the fifth tacked on the fifth and final run.

The district win followed consecutive losses to Mangham, 7-5, and Airline, 9-0. Prior to that, Destrehan had posted three shutout wins in a row, a 3-0 win over Ruston, a 4-0 victory over Thomas Jefferson and a 15-0 win over East St. John.

Oubre recorded 14 strikeouts and walked none in the complete game effort to earn the win over Thibodaux. She recorded four perfect innings to start the game and retired seven in a row to finish it out.

The Airline and Mangham losses were hiccups in the midst of one of the best stretches of pitching in the sophomore’s career to date. The Thibodaux win represented her second one-hit shutout in a few days time, posting another on Friday in a 3-0 victory over Ruston. A day prior to that game, she threw seven shutout, two hit innings against Thomas Jefferson, and two days before that, Oubre threw a four inning no-hitter against East St. John that saw her strike out 10 in four innings.

Over her last four wins, Oubre allowed four hits and no runs over 25 innings, striking out 40 batters while walking just two.

“She’s throwing exceptionally right now. She’s giving us a chance in every game we play,” said Montz. “We couldn’t ask her to do any more than she is right now … pitching and defense have really been our strong suits all year.”

The Mangham game came down to the wire, the teams each scoring three in the fifth inning after four scoreless innings to start the game off. Mangham, the No. 2 ranked team in Class 2A, scored four in the top of the seventh to take control, quieting a Destrehan rally in the bottom of the seventh after Destrehan pushed two runs across—each team started the  final inning with a runner on second, as per tournament tiebreaker rules.

Zeringue and Dugas each went 2-for-4, Zeringue scoring a run and Dugas driving one in. Moriah Ocmond drove in two runs for Destrehan.

Destrehan has turned things around after losing five straight games to start the season, and could primed to make another push into the postseason after testing itself against a difficult early schedule.

“Playing good competition has made us a mentally tough team, for sure. This has been a much tougher schedule than we’ve played in previous years … we won’t be an easy out in the playoffs,” Montz said.

 

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