By DOUG IRELAND, Journal Sports
SULPHUR – It seemed inevitable but it was hardly automatic, Calvary’s softball team claiming a fifth consecutive LHSAA softball championship.
The Lady Cavaliers put the perfect finishing touch on their season, wrapping up a 37-1 campaign with a one-run nailbiter over Parkview Baptist in the semifinal Friday, then using an 11-run fourth-inning eruption and a no-hitter from junior ace Kynzee Anderson to run-rule District 1-2A foe D’Arbonne Woods in the Select Division III title game Saturday.
Friday’s 1-0 win, as it turned out, was won by Calvary’s first hitter. Carlie Guile drilled a leadoff home run and Anderson and her defense made it stand up in a 1-0 triumph over the fourth-seeded foes. Anderson struck out 13 and fired a four-hitter.
“We pitched and played defense, pitched and played defense. We had some great pitching and heads-up defense. (Right fielder) Abby Sims caught a ball on the bounce and threw out their leadoff batter trying to go (for two) and that was a huge out, to get some momentum,” said winning coach Tiffany Wood, whose birthday was Friday.
“That’s how it’s been for us all season. Great pitching and great defense,” she said, noting Calvary had only 11 errors in 38 games.
Saturday, it was 1-0 again entering the bottom of the fourth, and that’s when a trademark Lady Cavs’ big inning unfolded. Sixteen Calvary hitters went to the plate and made it 12-0.
But it wasn’t with bunches of line drives crashing into and over the outfield wall. There were a couple of doubles, with Baylor Bockhaus driving in two runs and Guile plating a pair, but Cavalry used bunts and base hits to pile up the runs.
Sims, whose sacrifice bunt in the second inning got the Lady Cavs on the board, did it again. Guile singled in a run, Jaycee Sledge drew a bases-loaded walk, Reese Walker’s base hit scored two, Amilea Bain added an RBI single and Sims followed with another, before Guile’s two-bagger was the last run-producer in the onslaught.
“It was close, and all of a sudden, it wasn’t,” said Wood. “Small ball, speed, ability to pressure the defense, ability to get hit by pitches, all that came into play in that inning.”
Guile and Brynn Robinson each contributed three hits and Walker added two to pace the 11-hit championship attack.
Meanwhile, Anderson was gritting her teeth dealing with a back problem that flared up Saturday morning and had her status in doubt until minutes before the first pitch. Not to be denied, she stepped into the circle and relied on offspeed stuff as she struck out four in her five innings. Only two walks, one intentional, kept the junior from a perfect game.
“She’s a fighter. She doesn’t have to be 100 percent. Her speed was a little slower than it had been, but her offspeed was the best it has been all year,” said Wood. “All I needed was all she could give us, and she did that.”
The accomplishment of adding to the streak of state championships was still settling in after the Lady Cavaliers got home late Saturday night.
“It’s pretty unreal, pretty amazing. We don’t take any of the titles for granted. A lot of hard work and preparation got us there. To say we’re on a five-in-a-row streak is amazing,” said Wood.
Contact Doug at sbjdoug@gmail.com