The Hahnville Lady Tigers have advanced to the quarterfinals of the state tournament after knocking off Covington 6-0 last week. Hahnville will now face off against Mt. Carmel at 12 p.m. on April 30 in Sulphur.
Hahnville beat Mt. Carmel 2-1 on March 27.
Lady Tiger Lauren Candies tossed a two-hitter with eight strikeouts in the victory over Covington, but it was the offense that got things rolling early on.
Courtney Dutreix led off the game with a triple, and Elise deBruler slammed a two-run home run deep over the left field fence to give the Lady Tigers a 2-0 lead.
“That would have been a home run in some baseball stadiums,” Hahnville head coach Kenny Vial said. “ The coach at Covington told me that she went deep into the woods behind the field and found the ball and she is bringing the ball to Sulphur to give to Elise.
“That’s sportsmanship.”
Covington tried to cut into the lead in the second inning when Megan Daughdrill slapped a single and advanced to second on an error. A sacrifice bunt by Holly Stewart pushed her to third, but Candies struck out the next batter to end the inning.
Hahnville blew the game open in the fifth after a bases-loaded triple by Hope Mair put the Tigers on top 5-0. Abby Boutte then singled to bring Mair home for the final run of the game.
Vial has been impressed with his player’s postseason performance so far.
“We have been solid in all areas,” he said. “Our pitching has been awesome and Lauren makes my job easy…she has made me a good coach.
“When your players are good, you’re a good coach, and we have good players.”
Vial said the bats started to come alive two weeks ago, which caused his team to peak at the perfect time. For that, he credits the players as well as the coaching staff.
“The kids are focused and our coaching staff has done a great job of preparation,” he said. “I have three coaches who put a lot of time, effort and experience into this.
“Coach Bode and Coach Crisham have done a great job with preparing the hitters for the types of pitchers we are facing and Coach Fallon has made sure that Lauren stays on top of her game.”
But it’s the players’ general fondness of one another that has really been important.
“They pull hard for each other to succeed,” Vial said. “When we make changes in games and play non-starters, the starters are standing on the fence screaming encouragement. Chemistry is the most important element in this sport next to talent and we have both.
“My biggest challenge as a coach with this group is to make sure we get to the game on time and what to order for the post-game meal.”
Vial will have to get the team on time to their quarterfinal against Mt. Carmel, but don’t let him fool you, a good deal of coaching will be required if the Lady Tigers are to make it to the semifinals.
“We have scrimmaged (Mt. Carmel) in January and we played them in late March. They have LSU signee Megan Patterson in the circle, and she is awesome,” Vial said. “She pitches rise ball after rise ball.”
Hahnville and Mt. Carmel play every year and Vial said they have pretty much split games during that time.
“It will be a low scoring, intense matchup of two even teams,” he said. “Too close to call.”
In order to pull off the victory, Vial said his players must get on base however they can.
“Patterson probably averages 12 to14 strikeouts a game, so we must get our bats on the plane of the ball and put the ball in play,” he said. “If we strikeout a bunch, they win.”
If the Lady Tigers defeat Mt. Carmel on Friday, they will play the winner of Central and Barbe in the semifinals on Saturday, May 1st at 1 p.m. The final game for the title of Class 5A State Champions will take place at 7 p.m. on Saturday, May 1st.
Be the first to comment