JOURNAL SPORTS
Bossier Parish Community College softball has had a steady climb up the ladder of success with 40-win seasons but has never been able to get past the Region XIV Tournament and into the national tournament — until Tuesday afternoon.
The Lady Cavaliers enjoyed celebrating on their home field after they soundly defeated San Jacinto 12-3 to capture second place in the Region XIV Tournament and punch their ticket to Oxford, Alabama, and the NJCAA Division I Softball World Series next week.
Things didn’t look so good for BPCC in the early going as San Jacinto starting pitcher Christin Haygood struck out four in the first two innings and the Lady Cavs committed an infield error that led to two unearned SJ runs and a 2-0 deficit.
That changed when Madison Ruiz led off the third with Bossier Parish’s first hit and was sacrificed to second. The Cavs tied the game 2-2 when Piper Garcia doubled to rightfield to score Ruiz and scored herself on a couple of San Jacinto errors.
The onslaught of runs by the Lady Cavs continued as they posted four in the fourth inning, two in the fifth and four more in the sixth to lead 12-2.
Brielle Moreno, who came in to relieve starter Macie LaRue in the third inning, shut the door on San Jacinto and only gave up a one run, a solo home run in the seventh in her 4 1/3 innings of work. She gave up four hits, walked one and struck out one.
Garcia sparked things with a three-run home run to highlight the four-run fourth that put the Cavs up 6-2. She finished the game 2-for-4 with three RBI.
The Lady Cavs’ two runs in the fifth scored on a fielders’ choice RBI for Ruiz and Taysia Constantino singled in Serena Hopkins.
Hopkins, who was 2-for-4 and scored three runs, finished the scoring for BPCC with a grand slam in the sixth inning to give the Lady Cavs a 12-2 lead.
Gracie Bellard also had multiple hits going 2-for-3 with a sacrifice bunt that helped lead to BPCC’s go-ahead run. A Hopkins single up the middle scored pinch runner Morgan Benge to give the Cavs the lead for good at 3-2.
Bossier Parish takes a 45-15 record into the World Series, one win from tying the school record set in 2021 when the Lady Cavs finished 46-8.
