Lady Tigers win streak continues

After a slow start in District 6-5A play, the Thibodaux Lady Tigers are finally hitting their stride, and they are doing it with a flair for the dramatic.

The Lady Tigers continued a three-game winning streak last Thursday, when they beat South Lafourche 4-3 in the last at bat.

It was the third game in a row that the Lady Tigers won by a single run. “I’m just wishing they would open up and hit the entire game,” said Thibodaux coach Angie Barthel. “The last few games we’ve gotten that one run that we need to win, and that’s all I’m asking for right now; for them to hang in there and not give up. We did exactly what it takes to win.”

The Lady Tigers won the game on the final at bat. After a leadoff out, three consecutive batters got on base to load them. From there, Simone Andras connected on the game-winning RBI, scoring Mallory Chiasson.

Thibodaux got off to a 1-6 start in district play, but has since improved to 4-6.

Things have been tougher for South Lafourche, as they fell to 1-10 in district action.

Early on, it appeared the Lady Tigers would dominate the game. After sitting South Lafourche down in order in the first inning, Thibodaux answered with a two-run, three-hit second inning.

But it could have been more.

The Lady Tigers left two runners stranded, both in scoring position. The scoring started on when Andras stepped up to bat with two outs. With runners on the corners, Andras connected on an RBI single to score Sunnie Diaz. A batter later, Lauren Trosclair connected on a double to make the score 2-0.

However, with runners on second and third bases, South Lafourche’s catcher picked off Andras at second base, for the final out.

The Lady Tarpons second inning was better than the first—they put a run on the board before loading the bases with no outs. But Lady Tigers’ pitcher Lauren Martinez settled down and sat down the next three batters, leaving three South Lafourche runners stranded.

Lady Tarpons’ coach Phil Bychurch said situations like that have been commonplace this season. “We need everybody hitting the ball at all times,” he said. “The problem we have, is we’re getting on base, we just can’t get them to home plate.”

He pointed to the second inning as an example of that. “The problem we’re having,” said Bychurch, “is we can’t get runs across the board.”

Still, the coach was pleased with his team’s effort throughout the game—an effort that nearly won it for the Lady Tarpons.

South Lafourche managed to push runs across in the fourth and seventh innings to tie the game 3-3. “They didn’t give up,” said Bychurch. “We came back. We could have just laid down and played dead, but we didn’t. That’s all I can ask for them, every game, and I think we did that.”

Barthel said the recent success can be attributed to not looking ahead. “We’re taking it day-by-day, game-by-game,” she said. “We’re just enjoying the wins right now.”