Byrd used five pitchers in allowing Red River batters one hit in 9-0 non-district baseball win Wednesday at Coushatta.
Kevin Robinson started on the mound for the Jackets and struck out four in his three innings of work. Tyler Wooldridge, Connor Pierce, Dawson Meeks and Kaleb Smith all worked an inning with Pierce and Meeks striking out three. The Byrd staff finished with 12 strikeouts while walking one.
The Yellow Jackets got on the board early with a 4-run first inning. Christian Weddleton’s single was the only RBI hit as David Favrot and T. Nichols both drove in runs with sacrifice flies and Patrick Snead walked in the first run.
Byrd bolstered its lead with three more runs in the sixth inning on RBI singles from Brooks Brossette, Lake Lambert and Snead.
Brossette finished off a 4-hit night and a 2-run triple for the Yellow Jackets’ final two runs in the seventh.
Weddleton added a double to his first-inning single in four at bats as Byrd picked up its sixth win in 11 games.
NEVILLE 12, CAPTAIN SHREVE 2: The Gators felt to 5-7 on the season with the loss to the Tigers in a game played at Glenbrook in Minden. Shelton Harville (double), Blake Fant, Hunter Willis, John Chance and Christopher Peyton had the Gators’ six hits. Willis suffered the loss on the mound.
The Bossier Parish Community College Cavaliers scored three runs in the fifth inning of game one to gain a 5-inning run rule win but gave up 8 runs in the eighth inning of game two to settle for a split of a Wednesday doubleheader on campus.
BPCC rolled 13-3 in the opening game, but fell 11-4 in the nightcap.
Cole Ketzner hit a 2-run home run to left field in the fifth inning of the first game and Gabriel Cabrera walked off the game by scoring on a wild pitch. Ketzner’s long ball was his fourth hit of the game and the 2 RBIs gave him 6 in the game. Leadoff hitter Alejandro Cazoria also had four hits that included a double, and he scored four runs and drove in three. Seth Gurr got the complete game win, giving up two runs on six hits.
Cazoria picked up two more hits in the second game as did Gavin Gaird and Ayden Makiarus hit a home run in the seventh inning when the Cavs scored all of their runs.
With the split of the DH Bossier Parish is 17-7-1 overall and 9-5 in Region XIV.
ARKANSAS 13, GRAMBLING 3 – Finishing a two-game set in Fayetteville Wednesday afternoon, Grambling (5-12) slapped 11 hits, but couldn’t overcome No. 3 Arkansas posting another run-rule victory after a 14-3 outcome Tuesday. Shemar Page and Trevor Hatton had the hot bats for GSU, with both players going 3-for-4. Page drilled a solo home run in the second inning. Jarficur Parker went 2-for-4 with a solo homer. Arkansas (13-3) outscored the Tigers 9-0 over the final five innings to earn the run-rule victory.
SOFTBALL
NORTHWESTERN STATE 7-3, JACKSON STATE 3-2: The Lady Demons (14-11) rebounded from being swept in a three-game set at Houston and broke out the brooms at Jackson. Sage Hoover (5-3) and Bronte Rhoden (1-3) kept the Jackson State hitters off balance all day as the top of the Lady Demon lineup, led by Taylor Williams’ five-hit day, accounted for 14 of NSU’s 20 total hits.
This is the time of year when guys and gals of my ilk crawl out of warm beds early mornings to head for the woods. Granted, no hunting season is open now and we’re not out there to circumvent the law; we’re going out to “listen,” as you’ll overhear us talking about what we did early on pre-spring mornings. We’re going out to “listen” for a gobbler.
Turkey season is still a few weeks away, opening April 2. There’s something about getting to hear a gobbler sound off from his roost tree that gets the juices flowing and serves to fire us up for what we hope to hear opening morning.
Not only is it possible to locate where gobblers are roosting, you can also find tracks, droppings, strut marks and such to find where birds are hanging out. Such was the case for me on March 19, 2008, when I stumbled upon the mother lode of turkeys.
After an early morning of listening for a gobbler when the woods were silent, I drove up to a well site back in the woods on my hunting club. I didn’t need to hear a gobbler that morning; when I rounded the curve leading to the well site, I saw turkeys – a whole bunch of turkeys including several strutting gobblers. When they saw me, they took off but no problem; I knew where I’d be set up on opening morning.
The next afternoon, I set up my ground blind in a thicket next to the well site, and cleared brush so I could see the area where the turkeys had gathered the day before.
Granted, it was hard to sleep that night as my mind kept running the tapes back of what I had seen two days prior.
March 21 was opening day and I arrived at my blind well before daylight, I decided to sweeten the pot by placing “Pretty Boy,” my strutting tom decoy, on the well site with a submissive hen crouching in front of the tom. Then I waited for daylight with high expectations.
Once the eastern sky began to illuminate the woods and the cardinals and barred owls began their morning chorus, I heard a gobble from the woods directly in front of where I sat. Waiting a couple of minutes, I stroked a few sweet yelps on my slate call and was greeted with an immediate gobble. Then I just sat back and waited to see something.
In less than 10 minutes, I saw a white head pop up on the far edge of the well site 100 yards away. Then another head and then a third head. Three gobblers began looking for the hen they thought they’d heard.
What happened next was what turkey hunters dream about; all three gobblers spied Pretty Boy and the little hen. It became a foot race to see who could get there first to chase away what they envisioned to be a gobbler that had invaded their territory.
One gobbler won the race and immediately attacked the fake gobbler, sending him careening off the stake where I had placed him. All three proceeded to give the fake a thrashing like I’d never seen with a chorus of clinks and rattles as their beaks and spurs pummeled the hard plastic.
One of the gobblers separated from the other two, I got a bead on him and dropped him. I expected the other two to hightail it when I shot but no; they jumped on the flopping bird I had shot and began pecking and spurring their fallen cohort unmercifully.
I could have easily taken both the other gobblers but I had my limit for the day and all I could do was sit back and enjoy the show until a vehicle approached and they scattered.
Spring turkey hunting can be disappointing but it can provide thrills and excitement, the likes of which I never experienced before or since that special morning in the turkey woods.
University of the Southwest at LSUS, DH, 3 p.m. South Dakota St. at Northwestern St., 6 p.m.
College Basketball
Houston at Louisiana Tech women, 6 p.m.
High School Baseball
Evangel at Haughton Huntington at Lakeview Haynesville at Bossier Sulphur Tournament – Airline, Benton
High School Softball
Captain Shreve at Airline Haughton at Benton Byrd at Parkway Southwood at Natchitoches Central BTW at Bossier Caddo Magnet at North DeSoto Minden at Huntington Green Oaks at North Webster Simsboro at Loyola North Caddo at Summerfield
High School Track
Captain Shreve Gator Relays – Lee Hedges Stadium, Field events, 4:30 p.m.; Running events, 5:15 p.m. Airline Viking Relays
Friday
College Baseball
University of the Southwest at LSUS, noon Centenary at Texas Lutheran, 6 p.m. South Dakota St. at Northwestern St., DH, 2 p.m. Prairie View at Grambling St., 6 p.m. Centenary at Texas Lutheran, 6 p.m. Louisiana Tech at UTSA, 6 p.m. Texas A&M at LSU, 6:30 p.m.
College Softball
Northwestern St. vs. James Madison, at Memphis, Tenn., 9 a.m. Northwestern St. vs. East Tennessee St., at Memphis, Tenn., 11:30 a.m. Southern U. at Grambling St., 5 p.m. Louisiana Tech at Florida Atlantic, 5 p.m. LSU at Texas, 6 p.m.
High School Baseball
Byrd at Loyola Captain Shreve at vs. Mangham, at Ouachita, 4 p.m. Haughton at Evangel, 5 p.m. Sulphur Tournament – Airline
High School Softball
Bossier at Wossman
Note: The above schedule is subject to cancellations or reschedule
Marva Myrtle Mason February 10, 1940 ~ March 9, 2022 Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Antioch Baptist Church Bossier 724 Butler St Bossier City
Al J. Edmunds October 14, 1929 – March 12, 2022 Visitation: 10:00 a.m. Thursday, March 17, 2022 Services: 11:00 a.m. Thursday, March 17, 2022 at Rose-Neath Cemetery, 5185 Swan Lake Spur, Bossier City
Caddo Parish
Larry Dale Blalock October 13, 1966 – March 7, 2022 Visitation: 1pm to 8pm Friday Night at Good Samaritan. Services: Saturday, March 19, 2022, 11am in the Chapel of Good Samaritan Funeral Home 2200 LAUREL ST Shreveport
Otha O.D. Green September 6, 1957 – March 6, 2022 Visitation: 1pm to 8pm Friday Night at Good Samaritan Services: Saturday, March 19, 2022, 1pm in the Chapel of Good Samaritan Funeral Home 2200 LAUREL ST Shreveport
Claudine Mayweather June 1, 1944 – March 15, 2022 Visitation: 1pm to 8pm Friday Night at Good Samaritan Funeral Home. Services: Saturday, March 19, 2022, 11am, at Baptist Temple Baptist Church 5024 Greenwood Road Shreveport
Koncetta Ann Oliver July 30, 1955 – March 12, 2022 Services: Saturday, March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Carver Cemetery 498 Kennie Road Shreveport
Kim Jones-Miles December 5, 1970 ~ March 12, 2022 Visitation: Friday March 18, 2022 11:00 AM to 6:00 PM Heavenly Gates, 1339 Jewell St. Shreveport Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 1:00 PM Republican Cemetery (Lake Bethlehem)
Joe Wade January 3, 1936 – March 15, 2022 Visitation: 10:00 a.m. until the time of service Services: 11:00 a.m. Tuesday, March 22, 2022 at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2201 Airline Drive, Bossier City
Theresa Bickham April 18, 1951 ~ March 7, 2022 Services: Monday March 21, 2022 1:00 PM Winnfield Funeral Home – Shreveport 3701 Hollywood Avenue
Ella Mae Sweeney May 27, 1942 ~ March 9, 2022 Visitation: 12 to 6 p.m., Saturday at Heavenly Gates. Services: Sunday March 20, 2022 12:00 PM Ebernezer Baptist Church 199 Ebernezer Road Taylortown
Gail Ann Snow August 14, 1956 ~ March 12, 2022 Visitation: 11 to 6 p.m, Friday at Heavenly Gates. Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Round Grove Cemetery, 2869 Round Grove Lane Shreveport
Pauline Jackson December 29, 1962 ~ March 12, 2022 Visitation: 11 to 5 p.m., Friday at Heavenly Gates Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM St. John B.C. , Mooringsport 9325 Old Mooringsport Rd.
Rhonda Noyes March 2, 1965 ~ March 5, 2022 Visitation: 11 to 5 p.m., Friday at Heavenly Gates Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Union Springs Baptist Church 702 W 71st St Shreveport
Devin Dewayne Myers March 2, 2005 ~ March 3, 2022 Visitation: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m, Friday at Huntington High School Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Huntington High School 6200 Raspberry Lane Shreveport
Ronald Bell November 16, 1962 ~ March 10, 2022 Visitation: 11 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Heavenly Gates. Services: Friday March 18, 2022 1:00 PM Zion Rest Cemetery Shreveport
Thelma Louise Logan July 12, 1932 – March 9, 2022 Visitation: Saturday, March 19, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Drive in Shreveport Services: Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. at the Shaw Family Cemetery, 1591 Sloan Rd., Mansfield
Alma Fay Robinson Greer August 29, 1931 – March 5, 2022 Services: Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Drive, Shreveport, Louisiana on Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 11:00 a.m
COUPLE OF CHAMPIONS: Retiring Northwestern State basketball coach Mike McConathy and wife Connie exchange a laugh at his sendoff Tuesday in Natchitoches.
By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
NATCHITOCHES – Four standing ovations, the first before he said a word.
Not nearly as many tears, cracks in his voice, or pauses to regain his composure as former players and longtime friends expected.
No notes. None.
As always, completely from the heart.
That’s how Mike McConathy rolled through a comfortably brief sendoff Tuesday morning in Prather Coliseum, ending his 23 seasons as basketball coach at Northwestern State.
Following 20-some minutes of an informal program, featuring heartfelt remarks from McConathy and his wife Connie, then the requisite media interviews, and after greeting every one of the roughly 200 friends and colleagues who gathered to salute him and his accomplishments, in less than an hour, it was over.
In the most understated moment of the day, just-hired NSU athletics director Kevin Bostian announced what new university president Marcus Jones hinted at moments earlier. The next time the Demons tip off in Prather Coliseum, under their new coach next November, they will play on Mike McConathy Court.
It’s a self-evident, permanent tribute to the state’s all-time winningest college basketball coach, a man whose impact has cascaded far past 682 wins in 39 seasons at NSU and Bossier Parish Community College, beyond the NSU milestones of three NCAA Tournament berths, two wins in March Madness, seven Southland Conference Tournament title game appearances — and an impeccable record of academic accomplishment and community service by his players.
It was a team effort, he said. It began with the players he inherited in 1999 gradually buying in to his approach, ultimately producing NSU’s first winning record in eight seasons and its first-ever trip to the conference championship game. Utilizing his full roster, routinely going 10-12 deep in his game rotation, was a system that some of his players, especially the better ones, often struggled to accept.
“We’ve been blessed to have great players, great young men that wanted to try to do it the right way. They didn’t always agree with me. I’ll tell you a quick story about Devon Baker. Devon Baker was from New York City. Devon Baker fought me every day, fought me EVERY day. He wrote me something yesterday, and he said, ‘Coach, I didn’t understand then, but I do now.’ That’s a testament to my staff and what we believe in.”
His staff, brimming with young graduate and student assistants, was anchored by cornerstone colleagues Dave Simmons and Jeff Moore. Simmons spent 11 seasons in two stints at the beginning and end of McConathy’s tenure; Moore was alongside for the final 16. Loyalty and trust have been intrinsic parts of McConathy’s “Championship Basketball … with a Purpose” philosophy, along with faith – in the people around him, and personally demonstrated in his Christian lifestyle.
McConathy thanked NSU’s leaders for allowing him to “be who I am in my faith, not hide behind a rock,” a line that drew a 24-second standing ovation.
And he praised those attending, and many more who couldn’t – people from all walks of life whose deep engagement with the program most often stemmed from, and was nurtured by, McConathy’s personal touch and outreach.
“The most important thing is all of y’all – all of you people who have supported us over the years,” McConathy said. “I am truly blessed to have all of y’all in my life. The impact you have made on me is far greater than anything I did (for) you.”
Whether with his team, colleagues, his supporters, even his opponents – Stephen F. Austin coach Kyle Keller and Louisiana Christian’s Reni Mason attended Tuesday’s tribute – one trait stood above the rest.
“He was more concerned with winning hearts than winning on the hardcourt,” said his beloved spouse.
He did that, attested by tributes from opposing coaches, their staff members, administrators and others that have poured in on social media and from elsewhere.
“If you’re going to send a son someplace to learn the game and learn lessons about life, you send him to Mike McConathy,” said iconic, retired LSU coach Dale Brown, whose grandson Peyton spent time at Northwestern. “Generally, players don’t care how much you know, until they know how much you care. Mike had that down really well.”
NO VOLUNTEER: Shreveporter Mike Thibodeaux (at left, in stripes) earned opportunities to officiate in the NCAA Tournament from 1991-2009.
By JOHN JAMES MARSHALL, Journal Sports
The answer to the question that Mike Thibodeaux doesn’t know is “Arizona 93, St. Peter’s (Pa.) 80.”
The answer to the question Thibodeaux does know is “Salt Lake City, 1991.”
If you want to know where and when Thibodeaux refereed his first NCAA Tournament game, he will have no trouble remembering. If you want to know who won the game, you might be in for a little bit of wait. In fact, just remembering the teams who played in that game is a little dicey for him. “It might have been UCLA,” he says.
Which is exactly how it should be. Almost everybody at the Huntsman Center in Salt Lake City 31 years ago had at least a passing interest in the outcome of that opening round game. Except for Thibodeaux and the other two officials.
But that game was the start of an impressive run of NCAA appearances for Thibodeaux, who brought his striped shirt to every March Madness from 1991 to 2009. Not sure what this means, but for perspective’s sake, Roy Williams is the only coach to do that during the same span.
Thibodeaux had done some games in the National Invitation Tournament when he got the call to carry his whistle to Salt Lake City.
“There’s a lot of nervousness with it,” he says. “But it is exciting when you get that first call.”
Though he had already been a referee for five years, no amount of preparation could quite get Thibodeaux ready for the NCAA Tournament experience.
“You are wide-eyed and you get in there and see these other guys who have worked in the bigger leagues and you just want to take it all in,” Thibodeaux says. “But at the same time you want to hold your own so they know you did a great job.”
After calling the Arizona-St. Francis game (a 2 vs. 15 matchup), he didn’t exactly hurry home. “I stayed an extra day,” he says. “I wanted to watch some extra games to see how the other guys worked and get the full effect of the tournament.”
Thibodeaux started officiating college basketball in 1986 in the TransAmerica, Southland and Sun Belt Conferences. He later went on to call games in the SEC for 28 years, plus a few years in the ACC, Big 12 and Big 10.
But there is no easy road to get the call for NCAA Tournament games. “It’s like the teams … they don’t actually have the best 68 teams (in the tournament),” he says. “Same goes for the referees; they don’t really have the best 96 referees, but they do try to get guys from different leagues just like you have teams from different conferences.
“But it’s truly an honor for the 96 who get to go,” he adds. “The selection process now is probably a lot better than it was years ago. There are regional coordinators and a national director who determines whether they are tournament ready. When you get selected, it’s off your body of work from the entire season.”
At first, tournament referees are assigned one game in March Madness. Thibodeaux didn’t get a two-game schedule until the mid-1990s. He had a couple of Regional semifinal games, including one in 2000 when he called Purdue’s upset win over Gonzaga in Albuquerque.
“That was really an exciting atmosphere calling a game at The Pit,” he says. “What was exciting was to go to places you hadn’t been. Places like Sacramento, Ohio State, Buffalo, Greensboro, among others.”
Thibodeaux kept calling games until he had double hip replacement in 2009. “I had my run,” he says. “I went a good number of years.”
During that time, he worked the midnight shift at KCS Railroad. “Back then, when Delta flew big jets into Shreveport, I could arrange my schedule so I could do a game at Georgia, get to the airport at 11, gain an hour (in the time zone change), arrive back at 11:30 and be at work at the railroad on time,” he says.
Now retired, Thibodeaux still stays active as the assignment secretary for high school football and baseball for the Shreveport Association and for basketball in the Ruston Association.
He is also thankful that he is not remembered for all the wrong reasons as a NCAA Tournament official.
“There are some guys who are always remembered for the calls they made or didn’t make,” Thibodeaux says. “Or the ones where you had a confrontation with the coach. But I don’t think there was one call that sticks out. It was a lot of fun.”
Gus and Jezebel live next door, and sometimes Molly from a house over is there and sometimes even Duke from down the street. These are labs and herding dogs and mixes of athletic breeds, serious animals, and when the mailman or mailwoman come by each day, it is Armageddon, the Olympics of Barking.
And all these dogs are gold medal contenders.
No problem. Our mail carriers have more than once smiled at me and said, above the insane barking, “They love me.”
Maybe you don’t need a sense of humor to carry the mail, but I have to believe it helps. That, and spray repellant.
All this came to mind after a letter arrived alerting us that this is the 230th anniversary of the U.S. Postal System. The actual date that President George Washington created the modern-day post office is Feb. 20, 1792, so the letter was three weeks late but, hey, who’s counting?
I’m not, and here’s why:
The post office is a dart board for complaints. Stamps are too high. Service is slow. “Y’all make my dogs bark.”
Easy target.
But allow me to argue for my brothers and sisters at the USPS.
First of all, a “sort of” mail delivery had been in place since 1775, and Benjamin Franklin, you’ll remember from history class, was our first postmaster general. His salary was $1,000 annually. That’s a lot back then but … it would not have bought nearly as many stamps then as today.
Back then, a dollar equaled about 30 bucks in today’s dough. So a 12-cents stamp, the most fancy stamp you could get, one that would get a letter as far as you needed it to go—to one of the new states like, say, from Philly to Kentucky—would have cost between three and four bucks, if you’ll kindly do the math (because I can’t).
I just don’t understand why anyone would complain today that, for 50 cents, I can mail a check from my house to the insurance or electricity people instead of having to go to the actual address and hand it to the insurance or electricity people. It’s a bargain—and a lot better bargain than it was in 1792, when the “new” post office, in addition to other improvements, guaranteed lower mailing rates for newspapers, greatly advancing the idea of a free press.
Also back then the penalty for robbing a mail delivery person or stealing mail from the post office was death (see Sect. 17 of the Official Act). That’s right: The Big D. And you think 50 cents is a high price to pay.
Today the fine for such misguided tomfoolery is “only” five years in prison, which is no walk in the park but it beats having your mail and earthly address discontinued permanently.
So shut your pie hole!, you USPS bashers.
Finally, how do the mail sorters know how to do that? How can all this paperwork, all these envelopes of different sizes, come into One Building and people in there are fast enough, basically overnight, to get it into The Appropriate Piles?
And how do different carriers get My Mail to My House? Now and then I’ll get Jezebel or even Molly’s mail and will have to walk next door and trade, but still, even getting a letter from Fort Worth to within two doors of my house for half a dollar is cause for celebration, in my way of thinking.
Nobody’s perfect, but in a dog-eat-dog world, the USPS is carrying its weight and then some. Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night—nor barking dog—stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds. Hat tippage.
I should mail them a thank-you note. (Think they’ll get it?)
EXPLORING OPTIONS: Second-year freshman center Kendal Coleman (right), a Captain Shreve product, may use his breakout 2021-22 season as a springboard to leave Northwestern State.
By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
Captain Shreve product Kendal Coleman, a first-team All-Southland Conference men’s basketball selection as a second-year freshman this season for Northwestern State, has entered the transfer portal and could depart the Demons’ program.
Coleman announced his decision in a Tweet sent early Monday afternoon, an hour prior to a team meeting in which veteran Demons’ coach Mike McConathy informed his players that he was retiring.
“First off I would like to thank Northwestern State University for welcoming me and helping me become a better student-athlete,” wrote Coleman. “I have created many memories with my coaches and teammates. With that being said I will be entering my name into the transfer portal.”
The 6-foot-8 Coleman emerged as Northwestern’s leading scorer and rebounder from the beginning of the season. He started all 30 games he played, averaging 15.4 points and 10.1 rebounds while shooting 54.6 percent from the field and 58.2 percent overall on free throws.
At the line, he started the season struggling, sinking under 50 percent in non-conference action, after making 69.6 percent as a true freshman. He found his touch in conference play when he hit 70.4 percent of his free throws.
Also in league play, he expanded his reliable shooting range to 15-18 feet, creating matchup challenges for less agile post players. His averages in 14 Southland games were 15.6 points and 11.5 rebounds, and he blocked 27 shots as he earned a place on the five-member Southland All-Defensive Team.
Coleman ranked second in the conference and in the top 35 nationally with his 55 percent shooting aim from the floor. He led the Southland in rebounding, and in defensive rebounds, ranking 12th nationally with a 7.4 average.
As a first-year freshman in the Covid-impacted 2020-21 season, Coleman averaged 6.8 points and 6.5 rebounds in 29 games, with no starting assignments. He blocked 33 shots.
At Shreve, Coleman led the state in blocked shots as a junior, then helped the Gators to a 26-7 season in his senior year. He graduated with a 3.9 grade point average.
Entering the portal allows a student-athlete to be officially contacted by other institutions. It does not close the door on the athlete choosing to stay put.
WIPE OUT: Loyola pitcher William Soignier struck out 13 while pitching the visiting Flyers past Parkway Tuesday night in Bossier City.
By LEE HILLER, Journal Sports
Loyola pitcher William Soignier didn’t allow an earned run in a 3-1 win at Parkway Tuesday.
The senior pitcher allowed two hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out 13 and walking four. The run scored by Parkway in the sixth inning was unearned.
The Flyers got all they needed in the first inning on a Peyton Thomas 2-run single. Thomas’ hit scored Noble Means, who led off the game with a single before Parker Thomas who was hit by a pitch.
Loyola, now 7-5, got its other run in the sixth when Mason Worley scored on a wild pitch.
Parkway’s only run came when Tanner Kirkland reached base on an error and scored when Cade Josting walked with the bases loaded.
Parkway (6-7) got outstanding pitching as well, allowing just five hits and striking out nine. Tyler Bouillion went five innings allowing 4 hits and 2 runs. He walked none and struck out five. Zachary Clute threw the last two innings, allowing a run on one hit, and he struck out four.
Both starting pitchers, Soignier and Bouillion, were the only ones with an extra-base hit in the game, each drilling doubles.
CALVARY 3, BENTON 1: In another pitchers duel, Cody VanNoppen got the victory for the Cavaliers pitching four innings, allowing two hits, while he walked three and struck out two. Hutch Grace pitched the final two innings, allowing one hit, one run, as he walked one and struck out six. Blayne McFerren had two of CBA’s four hits, one of them a double. Logan Fontenot also had a double for the Cavs, now 9-5.
Benton pitchers Bryson Pierce, Cale Latimer and Daniel Jayroe combined to allow four hits, issuing only one walk as they struck out six.
The Players Championship was profitable and we nearly nailed the winner of the MyGolfLife Open on the European Tour. However, our lone win bet, Jordan Smith, lost in a playoff and we wound up down for the week. That W would have been nice, but it’s time to shake of the loss and look to March Madness.
I see some value in the Houston Cougars across the board in the futures, although they drew a tough region. Let’s whet the NCAA Tournament appetite with a couple of futures and some first-round games. Of course, we still have plenty of golf on the board!
Notes
All bets are measured in units. For instance, if your normal bet on a game is $100, that is one unit. If the bet is listed as .2 units, it’s a $20 bet.
Best line (as of Tuesday) is listed in parenthesis. Find the best price, one key to being a successful sports bettor! Shop around!
Sportsbook legend
CAE: Caesar’s FD: Fan Duel MGM: Bet MGM DK: DraftKings BS: Barstool
LANG’S LOCKS
Last week recap: -2.17 units
THIS WEEK’S SELECTIONS
College Basketball
To win NCAA Tournament
Arizona, +650, .2 units (DK) Houston, +4000, .1 unit (FD)
To Reach Final Four
Houston, +600. .2 units (CAE) Duke, +500, .2 units (BS) Iowa, +450, .2 units (CAE) Baylor, +300, .2 units (CAE)
To Reach Sweet 16
Houston, +116, 1.5 units (FD)
First Round games
Vermont (+5.5) vs. Arkansas, 1 unit (MGM) Vermont (+180 ML) vs. Arkansas, 1 unit (CAE) Davidson (+1.5) vs. Michigan State, 1 unit (MGM) Davidson (+100 ML) vs. Michigan State, 1 unit (CAE) San Francisco (+1.5) vs. Murray State, 1 unit (DK) San Francisco (+105 ML) vs. Murray State, 1 unit (MGM) Colgate (+7.5) vs. Wisconsin, 1 unit (FD) Colgate (+270 ML) vs. Wisconsin, 1 unit (CAE)
Golf
PGA Tour, Valspar Championship
Win bet
Aaron Wise, +12400, .1 unit (DK)
Top 20 Bets
Aaron Wise, +400, .9 units (DK) Martin Laird, +500, .6 units (DK) Kramer Hickok, +750, .5 units (DK) Tyler Duncan, +1200, .5 units (DK) Lanto Griffin, +550, .4 units (FD) Matthew NeSmith, +750, .4 units (DK) Joel Dahmen, +500, .4 units (DK) Nick Taylor, +500, .4 units (DK) Mito Pereira, +500, .3 units (DK) Keegan Bradley, +230, .3 units (FD) Russell Knox, +270, .3 units (DK) J.J. Spaun, +650, .3 units (DK) Michael Thompson, +750, .3 units (DK) Vincent Whaley, +1000, .2 units (DK) Brian Stuard, +650, .2 units (DK) J.T. Poston, +900, .2 units (DK) Webb Simpson, +270, .2 units (DK) Patton Kizzire, +450, .2 units (DK) Kevin Streelman, +450, .2 units (DK) Davis Riley, +1000, .2 units (DK) Kiradech Aphibarnrat, +1600, .2 units (DK)
European Tour, Steyn City Championship
Top 20 Bets
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Win bets
Kevin Roy, +18000, .1 unit (FD) Nicholas Lindheim, +15000, .1 unit (FD) Kyle Reifers, +10000, .1 unit (DK) John Pak, 13000, .1 unit (DK)
DOUBLE DINGER DOG: Walker Burchfield touched ‘em all twice Tuesday for Louisiana Tech in a win at ULM.
JOURNAL SPORTS
MONROE – Walker Burchfield clubbed two home runs as Louisiana Tech defeated ULM 8-4 Tuesday night at Warhawk Field.
Tech (12-5) plated five runs in the top of the first inning, highlighted when Bryce Wallace recorded a two-run single. Burchfield cracked a pair of solo shots in the third and fifth innings.
Greg Martinez got the start, earning his second win, going four innings, giving up one run, striking out five and issuing no walks.
Wallace and Steele Netterville both tallied two-hit nights.
ULM (4-11) outhit Tech 11-10 but stranded 13 baserunners. Bulldog pitching worked its way out of jams in the sixth and the ninth innings when the bases were left loaded.
Warhawk center fielder Mason Holt led the hosts, going 3-for-5 with an RBI single in the eighth.
NORTHWESTERN STATE 21, LAMAR 7: Following the first three double-figure scoring efforts of the season, Northwestern State kept it rolling, tallying season highs in runs and hits in a two-touchdown rout of visiting Lamar (12-6) at Brown-Stroud Field.
The Demons (7-9) reached double figures in runs in four straight games for the first time since Feb. 28-March 5, 2010. Since stopping a 39 2/3-inning scoring drought at ULM a week ago, the Demons have plated 78 runs in the last 27 innings, outscoring Alcorn State 55-5 over the weekend.
Ten different Demons scored and nine different NSU hitters drove in a run, led by Larson Fontenot’s career-high-tying five RBIs.
Daunte Stuart’s career-high five-hit game (5-for-6) topped the deep Demon offense while Fontenot went 4-for-6 and Gray Rowlett was 3-for-5. Bryce Holmes (2-for-6, 3 RBIs) and Gabe Colaianni (2-for-3, 2 RBIs) each had two hits and a multi-RBI game.
LSU 7, TULANE 5: Right-hander Eric Reyzelman struck out six of the eight batters he faced to earn his first career LSU win, and the fourth-ranked Tigers overcame an early 2-0 deficit to post a 7-5 win over Tulane in Alex Box Stadium, Skip Bertman Field.
LSU won its fifth straight game and improved to 14-3, while Tulane dropped to 10-7.
Reyzelman (1-0), the third of seven LSU pitchers, entered the game in the fourth inning and pitched brilliantly, allowing no hits and one walk with six strikeouts in 2.1 shutout innings.
Reliever Devin Fontenot pitched the final 1.2 innings to earn his first save of the year, limiting the Green Wave to one hit with one walk and one strikeout.
LSU first baseman Tre’ Morgan collected two hits and three RBI, and right fielder Giovanni DiGiacomo turned in the defensive play of the game when he threw out the potential tying run out at the plate after catching a fly ball in the top of the eighth inning.
The Tigers held a 6-5 lead heading into the bottom of the eighth and secured an insurance run on an RBI double by pinch hitter Josh Pearson.
Tyler JC at Bossier Parish, DH, 1 p.m. Grambling St. at Arkansas, 4 p.m.
College Lacrosse
Edgewood at Centenary, 7 p.m.
College Softball
Northwestern St. at Jackson, DH, 2 p.m. La.-Monroe at Alcorn St., DH, TBD
High School Baseball
Byrd at Red River
High School Softball
Parkway at Airline Woodlawn at Northwood Bossier at Red River
Thursday
College Baseball
University of the Southwest at LSUS, 6 p.m. South Dakota St. at Northwestern St., 6 p.m.
College Basketball
Houston at Louisiana Tech women, 6 p.m.
High School Baseball
Evangel at Haughton Huntington at Lakeview Haynesville at Bossier Sulphur Tournament – Airline, Benton
High School Softball
Captain Shreve at Airline Haughton at Benton Byrd at Parkway Southwood at Natchitoches Central BTW at Bossier Caddo Magnet at North DeSoto Minden at Huntington Green Oaks at North Webster Simsboro at Loyola North Caddo at Summerfield
Note: The above schedule is subject to cancellations or reschedule
Marva Myrtle Mason February 10, 1940 ~ March 9, 2022 Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Antioch Baptist Church Bossier 724 Butler St Bossier City
Al J. Edmunds October 14, 1929 – March 12, 2022 Visitation: 10:00 a.m. Thursday, March 17, 2022 Services: 11:00 a.m. Thursday, March 17, 2022 at Rose-Neath Cemetery, 5185 Swan Lake Spur, Bossier City
Caddo Parish
Theresa Bickham April 18, 1951 ~ March 7, 2022 Services: Monday March 21, 2022 1:00 PM Winnfield Funeral Home – Shreveport 3701 Hollywood Avenue
Lester Drach March 2, 1935 – March 13, 2022 Services: Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 2:00 p.m. at Forest Park West Cemetery, 4000 Meriwether Rd., Shreveport
Ella Mae Sweeney May 27, 1942 ~ March 9, 2022 Visitation: 12 to 6 p.m., Saturday at Heavenly Gates. Services: Sunday March 20, 2022 12:00 PM Ebernezer Baptist Church 199 Ebernezer Road Taylortown
Gail Ann Snow August 14, 1956 ~ March 12, 2022 Visitation: 11 to 6 p.m, Friday at Heavenly Gates. Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Round Grove Cemetery, 2869 Round Grove Lane Shreveport
Pauline Jackson December 29, 1962 ~ March 12, 2022 Visitation: 11 to 5 p.m., Friday at Heavenly Gates Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM St. John B.C. , Mooringsport 9325 Old Mooringsport Rd.
Rhonda Noyes March 2, 1965 ~ March 5, 2022 Visitation: 11 to 5 p.m., Friday at Heavenly Gates Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Union Springs Baptist Church 702 W 71st St Shreveport
Devin Dewayne Myers March 2, 2005 ~ March 3, 2022 Visitation: 5 p.m. to 8 p.m, Friday at Huntington High School Services: Saturday March 19, 2022 11:00 AM Huntington High School 6200 Raspberry Lane Shreveport
Ronald Bell November 16, 1962 ~ March 10, 2022 Visitation: 11 to 6 p.m. Thursday at Heavenly Gates. Services: Friday March 18, 2022 1:00 PM Zion Rest Cemetery Shreveport
Rita Carol Baisden June 5, 1951 – March 13, 2022 Visitation: Tuesday, March 15, 2022 from 5:00 p.m. until 8:00 p.m. at the funeral home Services: 11:00 a.m., Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 1815 Marshall Street, Shreveport
Thelma Louise Logan July 12, 1932 – March 9, 2022 Visitation: Saturday, March 19, 2022 from 10:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m. at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Drive in Shreveport Services: Saturday, March 19, 2022 at 1:30 p.m. at the Shaw Family Cemetery, 1591 Sloan Rd., Mansfield
Rita Sue Walker Price October 4, 1933 – March 10, 2022 Visitation: 10:00 a.m. until service time Services: Wednesday, March 16, 2022 at 12:00 p.m. at Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Dr., Shreveport
Alma Fay Robinson Greer August 29, 1931 – March 5, 2022 Services: Rose-Neath Funeral Home, 2500 Southside Drive, Shreveport, Louisiana on Saturday, March 26, 2022 at 11:00 a.m
He coached more than 1,200 college basketball games in 39 seasons, but Mike McConathy won’t be doing that any longer.
Monday, at age 66, he stepped away from the only profession he’s known. The Bossier City native told his bosses at Northwestern State University he was retiring as head basketball coach, following 23 years that not only transformed the Northwestern program, but also deeply impacted the university, the Natchitoches community and much of northwest Louisiana.
A press conference, open to the public, is this morning at 10 on the court in NSU’s Prather Coliseum.
McConathy previously spent 16 seasons (1983-99) building the Bossier Parish Community College program from scratch into a junior college power that posted 25 or more wins in each of his final seven years.
McConathy’s career ends with him standing as Louisiana’s winningest college basketball coach, man or woman, with 682 victories against 536 defeats. His record at NSU dipped under .500 three years ago and finished 330-377 – but notably, in 23 years of Southland Conference play, against peer competition, his Demons were 220-203.
His schedules annually included multiple non-conference “guarantee games” he slated, after which the home team pays an appearance fee to the usually overmatched visitors. Having played roughly 125 of those, McConathy is estimated to have brought home around $5 million to support NSU’s athletic budget through the years, including nearly half-a-million this season in seven such contests against the likes of LSU, Oklahoma, Houston, Baylor and Texas A&M – four NCAA Tournament teams, including the reigning national champion, and another (the Aggies) who analysts agree should’ve gotten invited to this year’s Big Dance.
Taking over a program with only five winning seasons in 24 years of NCAA Division I membership, McConathy immediately produced two. He led the Demons to three NCAA Tournament appearances, the only ones by a north Louisiana men’s program this century and the first for NSU, in 2001, 2006 and 2013. Northwestern won twice, over Winthrop in 2001 and beating No. 15-ranked Iowa in 2006. His teams made seven Southland Tournament championship game appearances, including a record four straight from 2005-08, and won the regular-season titles in 2005 (21-12) and 2006 (26-8, the most wins in school history).
The decision, said McConathy, was entirely his.
“I’m at peace with it,” he said. “I’m going to miss coaching something fierce. But God’s got a plan and I’m just going to follow a different path. I’ve been incredibly blessed and I’m deeply grateful.
“I would be remiss if I didn’t mention my wife, Connie, who poured her heart, soul and voice into supporting myself and this program. It takes a special person to be a part of a coach’s family and journey, and we could not have achieved what we did without her unfailing support. Having the ability to watch my sons, Michael and Logan, grow up around this program and wear Northwestern State across their chest like their grandfather and great-uncles did was truly special.”
McConathy’s father, Johnny, starred at Northwestern from 1947-51. His No. 14 jersey is one of three retired by the Demons. Uncles George and Leslie McConathy were also standouts for coach H. Lee Prather just after World War II. All were educators, and that is what the retiring NSU coach valued most.
“We wanted to win games, but it was always more important that we prepared our student-athletes to be more than basketball players. We wanted them to be good students, good players and, most importantly, good people. I believe, for the past 23 years, we have done that,” he said.
Almost 90 percent of McConathy’s players have left NSU with their undergraduate degrees. Twice, Demons ranked among the nation’s top-10 percent in the NCAA’s annual Academic Progress Rate scores.
McConathy’s emphasis earned him the 2012 National Association of Basketball Coaches’ Guardians of the Game Pillar Award for Education.
He taught classes throughout his NSU career and has been inducted into the university’s Gallaspy College of Education and Human Development Hall of Distinguished Educators.
In 2019, McConathy joined his father and uncles in the university’s N-Club Hall of Fame for athletic accomplishments. A prep All-American at Airline High in Bossier City, he is also in the Louisiana Tech Athletic Hall of Fame as a star for the Bulldogs from 1973-77, when he averaged 21 points per game in 98 contests, was a three-time All-Southland Conference pick, and the 1976 Southland Player of the Year for a conference championship team.
When Mike McConathy announced his retirement Monday after 23 years as head basketball coach at Northwestern State, it wasn’t because he wanted to leave the game.
Instead, the game had already left him.
With the speed-of-light institution of the transfer portal and NIL deals, players can skip from one school for another in an instant, in theory for more playing time or more NIL incentives.
The college basketball game we grew up with has left. Gone as a wild goose in winter.
We’re not blaming players. We’re just sending up a flare that the rules are different, which means the reality involving college competition is different. Drastically.
If you’re a coach whose foundation, whose plan for success, is building relationships, is building teams, the odds have turned against you.
If you’re that coach at a lower-profile school — say, for instance, Mike McConathy — and you were already at just a bit of a budget disadvantage, what can you do when the green backs on the other side of the fence look all that much greener than before? How can you coach up a freshman or sophomore, knowing that he could be playing against you the very next year?
It’s hard for a coach to build a relationship with a player and build a team around players when the only guy who plans to stick around is … the coach.
For 23 years.
And so, like everything else, the game changes.
But McConathy hasn’t. And that’s a good thing.
You’ll read and hear and see a lot about his playing and coaching records in the next few news cycles. If you don’t know a lot about McConathy since the Demons have been down recently, you’ll be impressed.
And if you’ve been a fan all these years, you’ll be re-impressed. No one has won more college games in Louisiana than he has so … there’s that.
But no one coaches all the time. They have to leave the court or field or track at some point and be like the rest of us. They have to go to the grocery store or doctor or to church.
And that brings us to the beautiful thing about McConathy: he is as approachable today at 66 and as the winningest college basketball coach in state history as he was as a high school All-America player at Airline High in Bossier City and an All-America guard at Louisiana Tech.
Maybe a little shy and as unassuming as an athletic guy who stands 6-foot-3 can possibly be, McConathy has nonetheless always been about relationships.
He, a sister and two brothers were raised by servant-leader parents, a couple who gave themselves to educating young people, either in grade school or Sunday school. The reddish hair and boyish face and “Aw shucks” vibe — either implied or imagined — earned him the nickname “Opie,” the pure and innocent young star of The Andy Griffith Show he grew up with.
Whether he likes it or not, it fits. Which brings us up against what so much of life is, a sort of paradox, maybe an enigma. Either way, a semi-puzzle.
In the life of a McConathy/Opie fan, you understand that, with the retirement of “Coach Mike,” an era has ended. They’re flying the barber pole at half-staff down at Floyd’s, the courthouse door is locked, and the Snappy Lunch closed for the day right after snappy brunch.
Sort of like a Mayberry Moment of Silence.
But on the other hand, McConathy can sleep a winner’s sleep for the first time since 1980 or so. Not worry about what might have happened to a player or staff member. Not tossing and turning in a hotel bed. Not reading anything about the transfer Port-o-Let or the NIL. Instead, he and wife Connie and their family — plenty of family around for sure — can build even more relationships.
Maybe you’ll see him around. Good for you if you do.
BEFORE THE DANCE: Second-year NSU basketball coach Mike McConathy with CBS announcer Tim Brando before the Demons’ March 13, 2001 NCAA Tournament debut in Dayton, Ohio.
By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
This morning, Mike McConathy walks onto the court at Prather Coliseum for the last time as Northwestern State’s basketball coach, at an event celebrating his retirement after 23 years. A highlight reel of memories has been dancing through the minds of Demons since his announcement Monday afternoon.
Some of the most compelling, and overlooked, are of the charmed five days in March 2001 when McConathy’s men became Dayton’s Demons. It was 21 years ago tonight that his second NSU squad won the first-ever NCAA Tournament play-in game, then stayed in town for three more days before No. 1-seeded Illinois sent them south.
Getting there was no small feat. Northwestern (finishing 19-13) was the sixth seed in the Southland Conference Tournament, and won it by dispatching three foes who had beaten the Demons twice in the regular season: No. 3 Nicholls on its home court, then No. 2 UTSA and No. 1 McNeese at the Brookshire Grocery Arena in Bossier City.
Then came NSU’s own version of Planes, Trains and Automobiles getting to Dayton. NCAA pairings were announced at 6 p.m. Sunday night, but the NCAA’s travel agency didn’t give the Demons travel plans until nearly 10 o’clock. Their bus pulled off campus at 6 a.m. in a violent storm, flew out of Shreveport at 8, looped northward in Atlanta, boarded a bus at the Cincinnati Airport (which is in Kentucky), and an hour later unloaded at the UD Arena just in time for a 7 p.m. shootaround and media session.
The play-in game was a first-year experiment pitting the lowest two seeds in March Madness. It now involves eight teams over two nights in the NCAA Opening Round, but it has never left Dayton, a hoops hotbed of Americana. Only a few of the 6,813 fans in the house on March 13, 2001 were wearing NSU purple or Winthrop maroon, but everybody was into the matchup. Instead of the atmosphere of a lab experiment, it had “an NCAA Tournament feel,” said ESPN’s Andy Katz.
“It was a new opportunity, the play-in game. Winthrop didn’t like it. We were thrilled,” said McConathy. “There was no other game that Tuesday night, and we were getting all that media attention around the country. It was incredible, and after we won, it magnified.”
That night, the game was the lead story on ESPN’s SportsCenter, and drew the top half of the sports page in Wednesday’s USA Today.
Two of the central figures were Bossier City natives and Airline High graduates with deep ties to Bossier Parish Community College – McConathy, of course, and senior forward Chris Thompson, who led NSU with 18 points in a 71-67 victory.
They weren’t alone. One of Shreveport’s best-known sports figures, Tim Brando, called the national television broadcast – carried on TNN, the forerunner of today’s truTV, but produced by CBS with all the trimmings. Rick Pitino, soon to become the coach at Louisville, was Brando’s analyst.
“Rick and I were already friendly, so that helped the broadcast,” said Brando. “He understood that Northwestern State was from my neck of the woods, and that Opie (McConathy) was a lifelong friend.
“After our production meetings leading into the game, I recall Rick saying, ‘This guy’s for real, isn’t he?’ Opie’s humility struck him,” said Brando.
That impression, and Brando’s insight, pleased those watching back home around northwest Louisiana.
“Having Tim on the TV call, he knew us, knew our story. We didn’t have to explain how to say Natchitoches,” said McConathy. “It was priceless.”
And on the court, another local – veteran NCAA official Mike Thibodeaux. The Shreveporter, who had worked a few Demon games in the past two years, was regarded among the best wearing a whistle anywhere in college basketball. As Thompson warmed up, he noticed a familiar face watching.
“It put a smile on my face,” said the NSU senior forward, whose colorful on-court persona drew several technical fouls in his two years in Natchitoches. “I’d known Thib a long time. His first words to me: ‘Chris, you gonna be all right?’ I said, ‘I’m gonna be on my best behavior.’ It was all fun and games, but I’m a competitor. He knew that.”
“We weren’t going to get any breaks,” said McConathy, “but Mike being there showed our guys that at its core, this was just another basketball game, and it was going to be well officiated.”
The game was close. NSU senior point guard Josh Hancock sank a 3-pointer with under a minute to go for a five-point lead, and transfers Chris Lynch and Michael Byars-Dawson made a pair of free throws each in the final 8.8 seconds to seal the outcome.
“We came out with great energy, we played well. Winthrop made their runs. There was a stretch when they hit several 3s in a row, but we weathered that,” said Thompson. “D’or Fischer was big for us. He was up and down as a freshman, but he was up that game (11 points, 12 rebounds, 9 blocks, the last setting up Hancock’s crucial 3-pointer) and that was a big plus. We made the clutch plays at the end.”
Shocked by the crowd support, and with the hometown Flyers hosting an NIT first-round game the following night, NSU bought Dayton basketball T-shirts and attended the game. The Dayton Daily News called them “Dayton’s Demons” and the local love for the upstarts from Louisiana didn’t fade.
“That was pretty nice, all that attention,” said Thompson.
“They had embraced us, and we hugged back,” said McConathy. “They invited us on their local sports talk shows. It was incredible to play in a city that was filled with great basketball fans. It’s why they’ve kept the Opening Round all these years later.”
All these years later, most fans know McConathy led NSU to three NCAA Tournaments, and rightfully, it’s the dramatic 14/3 upset of 15th-ranked Iowa in 2006 that immediately comes to mind.
All the Demons’ future success was rooted in those days in Dayton, and that night 21 years ago when McConathy and his brand of Northwestern State basketball made its debut on the national stage.
WINNING: Junior All-Conference USA forward Anna Larr Roberson has helped the Lady Techsters into the WNIT.
JOURNAL SPORTS
RUSTON – After winning the West Division of Conference USA and falling just short in the C-USA Tournament final, Louisiana Tech will host Houston Thursday at 6 p.m. at the Thomas Assembly Center in the opening round of the 2022 Women’s National Invitational Tournament.
“We are so excited to get an opportunity to play another game in front of our fans,” said Tech head coach Brooke Stoehr. “Our team has earned the opportunity to play in postseason and to get a chance to do it at home makes it that much better. We will be playing a talented Houston team, and we need a great crowd here to help make this a home court advantage.”
The Techsters are 21-11, their best record in over a decade.
Houston, a member of the American Athletic Conference, is 16-15 and lost in the American Athletic Conference semifinals to eventual champion South Florida. The Cougars drew an at-large invitation to the WNIT.
The WNIT field is comprised of 64 teams, including Tech’s fellow Conference USA members North Texas, Middle Tennessee, and Old Dominion.
Parkway’s softball team took advantage of some costly errors by North Webster to defeat the visiting Knights 8-3 Monday.
The Lady Panthers had eight hits in the win but really took advantage of four North Webster errors.
Ceniya Thompkins scored the go-ahead run for the Panthers on a NW error to put Parkway ahead 4-3 in the fourth inning. Thompkins was pinch running for Kayleigh Driggers who singled with one out.
Parkway upped its lead in the fifth inning with three more runs. Mikaylah Williams walked, stole second and third and scored on a Chloe Larry single. Driggers later hit a ground ball that resulted in an error allowing two runners to score for a 7-3 Panther lead.
Williams hit a 2-run home run in a 3-run third inning that put Parkway ahead 3-1 but the Knights tied it up 3-3 with two runs in the fourth.
HAUGHTON 12, CONVERSE 2: The Lady Bucs used an 8-run second inning to run-rule the Wildcats in five innings. Ariana Matthews was 3-for-4 with 4 RBIS and Laney Dobrow hit two home runs and drove in three runs. Ella Vickers had two doubles, while Brooklynn Bockhaus and Kylie Small all had doubles for Haughton.
NORTHWOOD 23, EVANGEL 13: The Lady Falcons prevailed in a game that had a combined 27 hits, 13 errors and 16 walks. Cameron Clark was 4-for-5 with 2 RBIs, Taylor McCabe had three hits and 3 RBIs and Lily Cooper had three hits and 2 RBIs for Northwood. Selena Nunnery was 2-for-4 and scored 4 runs and Makayla Nunnery 2-for-5 with 2 RBIs. Evangel got three hits from Haven Brooks and 2 RBIs, while Landry Naquin and Christina Bradley both had two hits. Jordan Miller had a 3-run home run for the Lady Eagles.
North DeSoto pitcher Kameron Mangum held Airline in check Monday to lead the Griffins to an 9-1 non-district baseball win in Bossier City.
Mangum scattered five hits across seven innings with 10 strikeouts and walked only one to get the complete-game decision.
Braden Richardson Landen Williams and Dalton Hill all had multiple hits for the Griffins. Richardson led the way going 3-for-4, Hill had two doubles with 2 RBIs in four at-bats and Williams was 2-for-2 with 2 RBIs.
The Griffins took the lead with a 4-run fourth inning. Hill started the scoring with a 2-run double and later scored on a ground out. Richardson singled in Peyton Mathews who had singled to give ND a 4-1 lead.
Airline had taken a 1-0 lead when Clayton Brandon singled in Keegan Lehr in the second inning.
CALVARY 10, QUITMAN 0: Landon Smith and Sawyer Fowler combined to shut out the visitors as the Cavaliers improved to 8-5. Smith got the win going the first four innings, allowing four hits, two walks and striking out four. Leadoff hitter Caden Flowers was 3-for-4, with a triple and 2 RBIs. Jackson Legg and Aubrey Hermes were both 2-for-3 and Logan Fontenot highlighted Calvary’s 5-run second inning with a 2-run single. Flowers ended the game in the sixth inning with a 2-run triple.
MINDEN 16, SOUTHWOOD 2: The Cowboys’ trip to Minden was one they would like to forget as the Crimson Tide scored all of their runs in the first three innings of the five-inning game. Both of Southwood’s runs came in the fifth inning on a Cody Snelgrove double that scored Darion Coney and Cortrell Ross-Hall.
BYRD FLIER: Ja’Michael Davis of Byrd High School was one of the standouts at the Yellow Jacket Relays, winning field event MVP honors.
By JERRY BYRD JR., Journal Sports
Winning the Field MVP award at the Yellow Jacket Relays was not something that was on the radar of C.E.Byrd’s Ja’Michael Davis as he showed up on Saturday morning at Lee Hedges Stadium. Competing well, staying warm, and looking good for the senior recognition pictures during the meet were on his “To Do” list.
Davis won the high jump (5-10), finished second in the long jump (18-1), and finished second in the 400 meters (53.19) on his way to being the only local athlete to win meet MVP honors.
His teammate, Xavier Anderson, gave the Yellow Jackets 14 additional points in the jumps by finishing first in the triple jump (40-4) and fourth in the long jump (17-10.5).
Other local winners included North DeSoto’s Dominic Smith (125-2) in the boys discus, Loyola’s Tripp Romer (4:56.07) in the boys 1600, Parkway’s Devon Oliver (44-3.5) in the boys shot put, Huntington’s Samantha Taylor (16-4) in the girls long jump, Benton’s Isabelle Russell in the girls 1600 (5:41.58), and North Webster’s Peyten Ware (10-0) in the girls pole vault.
Local relay teams to come away with a victory included Loyola’s boys Distance Medley Relay (11:55.62), Huntington’s boys 400-meter relay (45.48), and Byrd’s girls 4×800 relay (10:54.37).
Photo by GAVEN HAMMOND
Ruston scored 236 points in the boys division, 165 points more than runner-up North DeSoto.
Of all the things the Bearcats did on the track and in the field, nothing was more impressive than senior Caleb Babineaux’s 3200 time of 9:46.12, which bettered the meet’s old record, held by Byrd’s Trent Wells, by 13 seconds.
“I wanted to run fast,” Babineaux said, almost apologetically, to his teammate, Nelson Blackburn, who chided his record-setting teammate about not following the pre-race plan.
Benton’s Mason Haley (9:50.52), who finished second, didn’t mind. Neither did Parkway sophomore Gabe Falting (9:51.90), who finished fourth. Both Bossier Parish distance runners set new personal records. Blackburn (9:51.47) finished third in the race.
All four runners broke the previous meet record on a day which saw few records fall due to the cold, windy meet conditions.
“I just wanted to get out,” Babineaux said. “It’s a tough year for running in Louisiana. There is a lot of good competition. I was hoping Trent Wells would be here to help us run a little faster. Unfortunately, he wasn’t here so we had to improvise and do what we can.”
Wells was at the meet, but did not run. Byrd head coach Juan Plaza kept him out of competition to rest a nagging injury. It may be a week or two before Wells returns.
Babineaux won Track MVP honors at the meet.
On the girls side, it was a much closer race as the LHSAA Division I state indoor champions, Ruston, and the LHSAA Division II state indoor champions, St. Louis, battled to the meet’s final event. The Saints came out on top, scoring 153 points and edging out the Lady Bearcats by one point.
reel of memories has been dancing through the minds of Demons since his announcement Monday afternoon.
That night, the game was the lead story on ESPN’s SportsCenter, and drew the top half of the sports page in Wednesday’s USA Today.
