After a decade-long drought, Destrehan has begun its own streak against rival Hahnville.
It’s two in a row over the Tigers as the Wildcats earned a 10-3 victory on the softball diamond Thursday, winning in Boutte to move to 12-3 on the season and 3-0 in District 8-5A play. The Wildcats added an 8-1 win over Thibodaux this week to extend those marks to 13-3 and 4-0, respectively.
Gracie Bourgeois, Lillian St. John and Jolie Lozano each tallied two hits and drove in two runs. St. John doubled twice, while Chloe Burford, Bourgeois and Londyn Lee each doubled as well. Ava Breazeale went 2-for-4 with a run and an RBI. Burford was 2-for-5 with a run and RBI.
Lozano earned the win in a complete game effort, allowing two earned runs (three total) on five hits and a walk. She struck out two.
Jordyn Chaix led the Tigers offense with a two-run home run. Emma Jackson and Sophie Baudouin each collected two hits and stole two bases for Hahnville (8-7, 3-1).
Rylie Staton and Londyn Lee each got on base with no outs in the second inning. Hahnville starter London Lambert got the next two batters out, but St. John doubled to centerfield to plate both runners and make it 2-0. Burford followed up with her own RBI double to make it 3-0.
“I think it kind of set the tone for the game,” St. John said. “Our energy was up and it got the nerves out. Everyone was excited.”
Lee ignited Destrehan again in the fourth inning with a leadoff double. Breazeale followed up with an RBI single to make it 4-0. A two-out RBI single by Lozano made it 5-0 before Bourgeois delivered a two-run double to right that pushed the score to 7-0.
“I was just trying to make sure I got a hit,” Bourgeois said. “I was kind of in my own head and very nervous with this being a big game. But I made sure I got to it … I realized I just had to have fun and play my game.”
Hahnville’s Adriana Walton reached to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning and would score on an error, making it 7-1. Destrehan answered in the top of the sixth when Leanna Vicknair drew a bases loaded walk to force in the Wildcats’ eighth run.
The Tigers tried to rally. Chaix socked a home run to left to pull her team within five at 8-3.
“She put a good swing on it and gave us a little spark,” said Hahnville head softball coach Jeremy Duplantis.
But some hard hit balls by the Tigers were negated by some quality defensive work by the Wildcats – that, along with Lozano’s pitching, kept the Tiger offense at bay from there.
“It was tough in that regard – we had a lot of hard-hit balls right at them. We weren’t striking out … outside of that, we weren’t good enough today. A lot of balls we should have caught and didn’t … needing four or five outs against a solid hitting team like that isn’t where you want to be,” said Duplantis.
Destrehan won an outright championship for the first time in program history last season. Hahnville dominated the rivalry series, winning all games between the teams for almost a decade before Destrehan earned a 10-0 win over the Tigers last season.
“It feels like this might be a rivalry now,” said St. John.
Destrehan head softball coach Craig Perrier noted this is a junior-laden roster that lost by the 10-run rule against Hahnville in that class’s freshman season before turning it around.
“We make sure they’re battle-tested,” Perrier said. “That they can handle anything that comes their way. We put them in down situations at practice, to see who can fight and to teach them that we can come back … we want to make sure they believe in themselves. When I was a high school player, I could put myself in a slump quick. I was my toughest critic. I want to make sure they always take a deep breath and that everyone knows this team’s got their back.”
Destrehan climbed to the top spot in its division’s power points rankings for the first time in school history earlier this season. The Wildcats are currently at six there, with the inside track on another outright district championship.
“We’re all best friends. We all believe in each other and we all love each other,” Bourgeois said. “If we have a bad game, we put it behind us and just play our game again, go out on the field and have fun.”
Added Perrier, “This is a fun group to coach and to be around. They love life, they love each other and they love softball. And they want to be good.”
