Lady Tigers fall to Mount Carmel, but rebound to finish tourney 3-1

The Hahnville High School girls’ softball team went 3-1 under new head coach Gerry Nugent in the Catfish Classic tournament, which was held at West Bridge Park in Luling last weekend.

Nugent, who spent 14 years at Mount Carmel High School as the head coach of the girls’ softball team, joined Hahnville High School three years ago as an assistant under Kenneth Vail.

In his first year as Hahnville’s new head coach, he couldn’t be happier.  He said he sets the bar high and so does Hahnville, making this the perfect place for him.

“This job is the total package,” Nugent said.  “It is my career gold standard and I’m honored and humbled to have been named head coach. The school, the practice facilities, the fans and the players all contribute to making this the best job in the business of high school girls’ softball.” The Lady Tigers season kicked into gear last weekend at the Catfish Classic, which draws some of the top teams from the area.

The Tigers lost to Mount  Carmel 10-2 in the first game of the tourney,  but they quickly found their groove for the next three games edging Dominican 4-3, downing Archbishop Chappelle 3-1 and shutting out Cabrini 4-0.

Nugent admits the first game just got away from his squad, but thinks he’s found a solution   that made the rest of the weekend more successful, despite some pretty cold conditions on Friday.

“The first game was more of a learning experience,” he said. “Sometimes it just goes that way. But later we mixed up the lineup and proved we have a lot of depth on this team. Every player on this team contributed to our achievement this weekend. They jumped together with a lot of effort and a lot of poise.”

Twenty out of 24 players return from last season, including senior pitcher Lauren Beedle who went 14-0 in district play with a .52 ERA.

“Both my pitchers got big wins this weekend,” Nugent said.  “Lauren Beedle got a nice win on Friday, and again on Saturday, along with Karly Taranto who also won big on Saturday.”

Nugent believes in goals for his team. His short term goals are to get better each and every week and those goals will help the team to achieve his long term goal, of which there is only one.

“To win a state championship,” he said.

 

Be the first to comment

Leave a Reply