For the first three innings of play Wednesday, rivals Hahnville and Destrehan were entangled in a tight game of softball.
Then the Tiger bats awoke, and suddenly it wasn’t.
Amberly Dempster and Morgan DeJean each homered to highlight a 10-run fourth inning that extended what was a 4-2 lead to what became a 14-2 final score in District 7-5A play.
The game ended after five innings by the 10-run rule. HHS improved to 16-12 overall with the win and 5-0 in district play.
Dempster walked and Kloe White singled to begin the Tigers’ huge inning. DeJean singled home a run to make it 5-2. Then Sydnie Sirmon singled to right to plate another run, making it 6-2.
After an intentional walk of Brazzi Jacob loaded the bases, Jenna Cancienne doubled two more runs home. Karli Bourg was intentionally walked, then an error on a fly ball hit by Adeline Bertrand led to Hahnville’s ninth run. A passed ball led to its tenth.
Emma Jackson walked, which brought up Dempster for the second time in the inning – she blasted a 3-run home run over the left field wall to make it 13-2.
“I just saw a pitch I could drive,” Dempster said. “I waited on it and hit it out … coming out of a slump, (the win) felt good.”
DeJean followed up with a blast of her own to secure a 12-run lead.
“We learned the strike zone and made adjustments,” DeJean said.
Hahnville head coach Todd Schulz said the team will have to improve upon what he’s felt has been a tendency to start slow, but he credited his players for regularly making key adjustments as the game rolls on.
“About the third or fourth inning, we start peppering the ball like tonight,” he said.
White threw as hard as she has all season, Schulz added.
“Kloe threw the ball hard today. I asked her, ‘Where did that come from?’ She said she got mad and I said maybe you need to get mad all the time. Her screwball was working, her curveball was working … she’s thrown some big games for us this year. I think both she and Jenna are finding a groove in the circle,” Schulz said.
DeJean went 2-for-3 with three runs and two RBIs for HHS. Sirmon was 2-for-2 with two runs scored and an RBI. Cancienne went 2-for-3 with three RBIs and two runs scored. Dempster was 1-for-3 with two runs and three RBIs and Jacob went 2-for-3 with an RBI and a run scored.
White earned the win on the mound, striking out five and walking three while allowing two runs on three hits in a complete five inning effort.
For Destrehan (6-20), Brianna Anderson and Destini Thomas each scored runs, while Anderson, Emma Headings and Zoey Hartley each tallied hits for the Wildcats.
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