By Lori Lyons
In his first season as Hahnville’s head softball coach, Jerry Nugent had at least one constant – pitcher Lauren Beadle.
“She’s a phenomenal kid and a phenomenal person first,” Nugent said. “She’s very good natured and laid back but she’s not afraid of work.”
She’s not afraid to win, either.
A third year starter, Beadle went into her senior season never having lost a district game for the Tigers. Known for her solid rise-ball – and the protective face mask she wears while pitching – she finished her season as the only St. Charles Parish softball or baseball player to be named to the Louisiana Sports Writers Association’s All-State teams.
Beadle went undefeated in district play for the third consecutive year, with an ERA of .89. She allowed 39 hits in 66 innings, walked 18 and struck out 67. She finished her senior season with 98 strikeouts.
Teammate Maeson Martindale and Krista Robles of Destrehan were named Honorable Mention on the All-State softball team.
Baseball players Austin Perrin, Logan Billinsgley and Braxton Dufrene of Hahnville, and Nathan Pilutti, Cole Martin and Brennan Breaud of Destrehan all were Honorable Mentions on the All-State baseball team.
It was an honor Beadle said she hoped for, but didn’t count on.
“I’m most proud of getting (All-State) my sophomore year,” said Beadle, who finished 2015 with a record of 19-4. “Then, I didn’t get it my junior year. So I worked really really hard to get it this year. I came into this year knowing I had worked as hard as I could all these years, so there really wasn’t any pressure on me. I knew all the girls on my team and I knew they were all going to do their best.”
“She pitched the majority of our games the last three years and never complained,” Nugent said. “And she had quite a bit of success. She was Academic All-State too, and I always preach to the kids that that’s just as important as athletics. That’s something you can hang on to your whole life.”
Beadle didn’t always have an easy time. She joined the team in 2012, the year after the Tigers won the Class 5A state title. With then-senior Hannah Haydel in the circle, the Lady Tigers returned to the tournament in 2012, but finished as state runner-up.
So 2013 was Beadle’s year. She went 16-0 in district play and got the Tigers back to Sulphur, where they lost in the quarterfinals.
“She came into a tough situation replacing a girl who had been All-State the previous two years and won a state championship,” Nugent said. “She had a lot of pressure on her, but she handled it. She went undefeated in district, 48-0, the last three years. Her attitude has always been to just go to work.”
Now graduated, Beadle is spending her summer playing on a travel ball team and keeping up with a summer workout schedule provided by her next coach. She will play softball for Centenary College, where she plans to major in pre-med/biology.
“I’m keeping busy,” she said.
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