Half of the Class 3A field returns to Sulphur for the LHSAA Fast Pitch 56 state softball tournament. No. 1 St. Charles, No. 2 Buckeye, No. 3 Lutcher, and No. 4 Parkview Baptist return after making the quarterfinals last year. New faces in the 2009 quarterfinals include Caldwell Parish (2005), Brusly (2007), Catholic-New Iberia (2005), and the Westlake Lady Rams.
The Lady Rams make their first trip to Sulphur for the Fast Pitch 56 after their last appearance in the 1999 state tournament.
First year Lady Rams head coach Jessica Provost led her team to the District 4-3A title and outscored their opponents 16-1 in the playoffs.
“It’s pretty exciting,” Provost said on making the state tournament. “You can’t get overconfident. I think we are a good team, but we have to work for it. So I won’t know how I feel until we get there and I see them play (on Friday).”
Sophomore pitcher Maggie Bradshaw has been dominant in the clutch for the No. 7 Lady Rams. In the last three games that include the game that won Westlake the district title over St. Louis, Bradshaw has allowed only three runs on 10 hits with 27 strikeouts and two walks.
“She works hard,” said Provost on Bradshaw. “She’s been dedicated to her workouts. She has be on and pitch her game.”
Offensively, the Lady Rams find a way to win ball games with a different player stepping up to get the job done.
“I can go one game and have somebody on fire,” Provost said. “And the next game I’ll have somebody else. Once I think that I have someone that is really consistent, I have eight more that step up.”
Westlake will take on the No. 2 seeded Buckeye Lady Panthers in the quarterfinals on Friday at 6 p.m. on Field 16. The Lady Panthers come into Sulphur looking to advance to the quarterfinals after falling the past two years.
“We want to get past the quarters,” said Buckeye head coach Darlene Wiley. “This is our third straight year going to the state tournament. We feel comfortable because we have a balanced team.”
Wiley has used a combination of three pitchers this year that can get the job done. Kelsea Wallace, Carley Richardson, and Tiffany Deville.
“They have three pitchers and will go with all three if they have to,” Provost said on the Lady Panthers. For a team to have three starting pitchers that says a lot right there.”
Wiley plans on using the trio combination pending on the match-ups she can get including the possibility of starting one and bringing in another to close the game.
“They are No. 2 for a reason,” Provost continued. “Of course I’m going into it trying to fight the fight of our life. If we continue working hard like we have been, we’ll be okay.”
Wiley said that the Buckeye coaching staff has seen the Lady Rams in action when they won the district title over St. Louis on April 14th.
“We have watched them play,” Wiley said. “They (Westlake) are a very sound team, with a good pitcher. It’s going to be a pretty fair game.”
Bradshaw and the Lady Rams’ defense are going to have to contain the likes of Paige Craig, Lacie Nugent, and Kayla Tobey for Buckeye.
The winner of the Westlake/Buckeye game will take on the winner of the Lutcher/Caldwell Parish game on Saturday.
No. 3 Lutcher returns to Sulphur after falling in the quarterfinals to Kaplan last year.
Sophomore Sara Schexnayder will take the circle for the Lady Bulldogs on Friday at 4 p.m. on Field 16 against Caldwell Parish, as they will attempt to reach the semifinals for the first time in the last six years.
Lutcher has reached the quarterfinals each of the last three years.
Caldwell Parish returns to the Fast Pitch 56 for the first time since 2007 when the Lady Spartans reached the quarterfinals.
The Lady Spartans have seven seniors that will lead Caldwell on a charge to the state title.
On the other side of the Class 3A bracket, defending state champion St. Charles Catholic (25-9-1) returns to Sulphur for the fifth straight year.
Courtney Western (14-6) leads the No. 1 Lady Comets into the state tournament after pitching the title game last year against Parkview Baptist.
“She’s the same pitcher that gets the job done,” said St. Charles head coach Ty Monica. “She’s now just getting into mid season form due to injuries earlier in the season.”
Sophomore Megan Louque filled in for Western and posted a record of 12-3. Monica said having given Louque some experience this season has helped to keep Western fresh for a run for consecutive state titles and the third in school history.
The Lady Comets lost seven seniors from last year’s championship team, but return three seniors with a team that has a tradition of making it to the Fast Pitch 56.
“The biggest change is the leadership role,” Monica said. “During course of my tenure the seven seniors (lost) were the leaders. Now I’m back to where we have three seniors and the girls have responded and the leadership role has taken affect.”
St. Charles will take on the Catholic-New Iberia Lady Panthers in the first quarterfinal game for Class 3A on Friday at 12 noon on Field 16.
“We obviously worry about our opponent,” Monica said. “You have four days of practice to prepare and last time you have that many days to practice is in February.”
Monica continued saying that the team that has the best four days of practice will have the best chance to win the state title.
The Lady Panthers return to Sulphur for the first time since 2005 with only one player returning from that team. Lauren Jolivette was a seventh grader and is currently a junior and leads the charge into the tournament.
Sophomore Abby Henagan pitched a no-hitter in Catholic’s 7-0 win over St. Louis advance to the state tournament.
Old district rivals collide when the No. 5 Brusly Lady Panthers will take on the 2008 runner-up No. 4 seeded Parkview Baptist Lady Eagles on Friday at 2 p.m. on Field 16.
Brusly is led by senior pitcher Bethany Pinkson (26-9) who has allowed only 13 earned runs all season and has struck out 470 batters.
Junior catcher Trell Pierson leads Brusly with a .392 batting average and senior Celeste Fontenot (.335) will look to put runs on the board.
The Lady Eagles’ Carli Wheeler (17-6) is coming off a shutout to North Vermillion in the regional round of the playoffs and will look do more of the same against the Lady Panthers
“We know if we can put runs across we can be successful,” Bouvier said on his offense. “Parkview has been there before and we are going to have to have a good first inning with the bats or out on the field.”
Parkview arrives into Sulphur with four batters batting in the upper .400’s including junior Jacee Blades with a .432 avg.
Sulphur, La. —
