After winning their first state championship last season, the Hahnville softball team will head to Sulphur on Thursday to defend their title.
This will be the fourth year in a row that Hahnville will travel to Sulphur, where the eight remaining softball teams in Class 5A battle it out for the championship. In 2010, the Lady Tigers advanced to the state championship but fell to St. Thomas More. Last year, Hahnville handled Denham Springs to win the title.
This year, the Lady Tigers have even better odds to win it all.
Returning seven starters from their state championship squad, Hahnville has cruised to a 29-2 record and a No. 3 seed in this year’s tournament. The scary thing for opponents is that Hahnville seems even more focused this time around.
“They are a coach’s dream,” Lady Tiger head coach Kenneth Vial said. “They are hungry, motivated and competitive and know what it takes to win.
“No matter what they are faced with, they always seem to overcome it.”
The Lady Tigers also have plenty of experience on their side. Six of the team’s players, including Summer Melancon, Hope Mair, Amye Barre, Alexandra Friloux, Hannah Haydel and Courtney Dutreix, have played in back-to-back state championship games.
That experience is crucial when teams play in an atmosphere like Frasch Park in Sulphur, where crowds pack the stands and the noise can be unbearable.
“We know how hard you have to fight once you get to Sulphur and how to deal with the atmosphere,” senior slugger Barre said.
Senior pitcher Haydel agrees.
“We know what it’s like to get there and we know what it takes to win it,” she said.
Hahnville wasn’t tested at all in district play this season, beating opponents by a combined score of 150-6 and claiming the district championship with a perfect 10-0 record. However, Vial put his squad through a tough non-league schedule that included five teams who have also made it to Sulphur – Barbe, St. Amant, East Ascension, Sam Houston and Live Oak. Hahnville beat three of those teams but lost to both Live Oak and Sam Houston early in the season.
But the scheduling definitely paid off since Hahnville will take on East Ascension on Friday at noon in the quarterfinals. If they win that game, they will take on either Live Oak or St. Amant in the semifinals on Saturday at 1 p.m.
In the finals, they could get another shot at Sam Houston.
The Lady Tigers relish the opportunity the avenge their two losses.
“Everybody in Sulphur is good and can beat you,” Vial said. “But we feel like we are pretty good too.”
The Class 5A state championship game is scheduled to begin at 7 p.m. on Saturday. For a full schedule, see page 10B.
Hahnville advanced to Sulphur by beating Dutchtown, 6-2, in regionals last Thursday.
The game was scoreless until the bottom of the third inning when the Lady Tiger offense exploded for three runs.
An error on a hard hit by Melancon brought one of those runs across the plate, with Megan Bush knocking a single through short to score Dutreix.
Melancon ended the scoring by sliding home after a wild pitch.
Dutchtown got two of those runs back in the fourth, but Hahnville extended the lead to 4-2 in the bottom of the inning on a double by Melancon. The final two runs of the game scored in the fifth inning on a double by Friloux and a triple by Dutreix.
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