Very few freshman softball pitchers ever get the chance to start a state championship game in Sulphur.
Of those who have, fewer still can say they’ve won. London Lambert can.
A sensational debut season for Lambert culminated in her helping lift Hahnville to state championship glory. HHS head coach Jeremy Duplantis said Lambert “has ice in her veins” and that the unflappable freshman handles pressure spots far beyond her years.
Still, when she and her teammates arrived in Sulphur, she admitted atmosphere made an impression.
“It was a little different,” Lambert said. “I think we kind of underestimated what Coach Duplantis was telling us about it … a lot of people, a bigger crowd and a lot of noise. But once we were there for a second, I feel like we kind of settled in, and it was more like, OK, this is a business trip.”
With Lambert in the circle, the Tigers took care of business all season long. She went 22-8, striking out 169 batters in 187 innings with a 2.5 ERA and a 1.2 WHIP.
As a batter, she likewise made a fast impact: 12 home runs, 59 RBIs, a .468 batting average and a .552 on-base percentage.
Five of those 22 wins came in the playoffs, and two of those in Sulphur.
“It took me a second to really let it sink in,” Lambert said of the realization the Tigers were state champions. “I couldn’t really believe it, because this is what you work for all season. You think about this all year long – to play on that last day of the season … I just kept saying, ‘oh my gosh, we just won the state championship’ to my teammates. What we’ve wanted to do all season, and we literally just did it.”
Lambert began playing Tee ball when she was 6 years old. By the age of eight, she ramped up to play travel softball. And by the sixth grade, she began to realize her own potential as a player.
“I kind of saw what hard work can really do, and learned how to work hard,” Lambert said.
She arrived at Hahnville and started from day one. There were no training wheels – the Tigers’ first win of the season came in their second game, a 12-7 win over Live Oak, in what was an eventual preview of the state championship game matchup. That was a theme for Hahnville throughout the season – the Tigers’ success came against a schedule full of contending teams, including several eventual state quarterfinalists, finalists and champions.
“I knew it was going to be a big difference (from middle school to high school varsity),” Lambert said. “I had to work on the mental side a little more. I knew I
was probably going to fail a little more than I did playing middle school … the hitters are a lot better and a lot smarter. And the pitchers are a lot better, when I’m hitting.”
Duplantis said it became clear very early that Lambert had the chance to be an impact player.
“At workouts, I could see she was trying to push herself to do more – and more than I wanted her doing at first,” Duplantis said. “So, I saw that work ethic. Then when we started pitching during the summer, I could see that perfectionist in her. You could see it in her face where she’s just, ‘I need to get this.’ That’s how I knew she’s going to be special for us for a long time.”
That work ethic applies in the classroom just as much as it does on the softball field – Lambert’s maintained a 4.3 GPA through her freshman year.
“We’re heading back from the state championship game on the bus, and I looked over at London and she’s on her Chromebook doing schoolwork,” Duplantis said. “Everything she does, she tries to perfect. You always know she’s going to give it her all.”
