Hahnville’s back was against the wall in the fourth inning of its second-round battle with visiting Ouachita Parish Tuesday, the Tigers trailing 3-0 and facing elimination with a loss.
The Lady Tigers weren’t fazed by the deficit though. They fought back – and into the state quarterfinals.
HHS earned a 5-3 victory over the Lions. The No. 8 seed Tigers advance and will host No. 16 Central-Baton Rouge in the quarterfinals of Division I non-select. Central upset No. 1 seeded Walker in round two, winning 7-4 in extra innings.
Rylee Villasenor hit a game-tying RBI double in the fifth inning, and Sophie Baudouin followed up by driving in the go-ahead run on a single for Hahnville (21-12).
“We definitely battled,” said Villasenor. “We work as a team and that’s what got us through the game. Hit after hit after hit – we get one and then we build off of it. We play off of each other and kept high energy.”
Villasenor finished 1-for-2 with an RBI and two runs scored. Sophia Patin was 1-for-3 with a pair of RBIs. Baudouin went 2-for-2 with a run scored and an RBI.
Last season, Hahnville fell in the second round to East Ascension in a game that the Tigers fell behind 4-1 and battled back to tie before ultimately falling short. Hahnville finished the comeback this time around.
“It feels amazing – I’m so excited, especially after last year,” Villasenor said.
London Lambert went the complete game for the win, going seven innings and allowing three runs on four hits and two walks. Lambert struck out five and got stronger as the game went on, allowing just one hit over the final five innings and at one point retiring 13 straight batters.
“She got dialed in,” said Duplantis. “She gave up a couple hits in that (second inning), but after that she dialed it in, we made some plays behind her and didn’t allow them to score again … power to our players for fighting back.”
The No. 9 seed Lions (23-12) made nothing easy for Hahnville though, jumping out ahead early on the back of three second inning runs.
Ouachita’s Aaliyah Alfaro doubled home Journee Williams, who walked to lead off the second. Another double by Alayjha Matthews plated the second run of the day for Ouachita, then with one out Mylah Lee singled home courtesy runner Fallon Miley.
Hahnville got runners aboard over their next two innings at-bat but did not get a run home.
That changed in the fourth, as Theriot, Villasenor and Baudouin all reached to load the bases to start the inning. With one out, Patin singled to left field and plated Hahnville’s first two runs of the day.
“(Patin) made a clutch hit and got us back in the game,” Duplantis said. “She came to bat as our 9-hole batter, our designated player … she didn’t let the moment faze her.”
Emma Jackson and Lambert each got on as the first two batters in the fifth to ignite another strong inning. Shelby Theriot bunted the runners over, then with one out Villasenor doubled home a run to tie the game. Ouachita was able to get the second out at the plate on the play, but Baudouin followed up with an RBI single on a hard ground ball up the middle.
The Tigers added an insurance run in the sixth after a pair of Ouachita errors, the second on a Jackson ground ball that allowed Jordan Lirette to score.
That run gave some important breathing room in the top of the seventh, as Matthews doubled to lead off the inning and got to third with one out. But with the runner on third not representing the tying run, Hahnville and Lambert could keep focus away from the runner and on getting the next two batters out – which Lambert did on a pop fly and then a strikeout to end the game and start the Hahnville celebration.
“That was huge,” said Duplantis. “We subbed in (Lirette) because she’s a little faster on the bases. She got to third base and allowed us to get that last run.”
Hahnville advances to the quarterfinals for the first time since 2022.
On the line next is a trip to Sulphur for the state softball tournament, where the semifinals and quarterfinals are played.
