PINE PRAIRIE -- The Pine Prairie Lady Panthers improved to 9-1 overall after clobbering the Eunice Lady Bobcats 16-5 on Tuesday afternoon in a district contest and splitting games with North Vermilion and Kinder this past weekend in the Kinder Tournament.
With the win over Eunice the Lady Panthers are now 3-0 in District 5-3A play. Pine Prairie was scheduled to host undefeated Sacred Heart on Wednesday afternoon. The Gazette will have full coverage of that battle in Sunday’s edition.
On Tuesday, the Lady Panthers jumped all over the Lady Bobcats from the first at-bat and never looked back. Pine Prairie started the scoring fest by scoring five runs in the bottom of the first inning.
Jacie McFarlain reached on an error to lead things off and was followed by a single off of the bat of Maycie Hardy. Tori Johnson tripled scoring McFarlain and Hardy.Brianna Wall singled in Johnson and then crossed the plate when Allie Fontenot blasted a one out home run over the left field fence.
The Lady Panthers blanked the Lady Bobcats in the top of the second inning and proceed to add four more runs in the bottom half of the inning.
McFarlain led off with a double and was followed by a single from Hardy and another triple by Johnson. Wall plated Johnson on a single of her own, putting the lead to 9-0.
A single run in the third inning made it 10-0. Fontenot added to the lead with a solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Eunice cut the lead down to six runs in the top of the fifth with a five run inning of its own. But, Hardy put the icing on the cake with a grand slam home run in the bottom of the inning to close the game out.
On Saturday, the Lady Panthers only needed one run to take care of the North Vermilion Lady Patriots, and that one run came in their very first at-bat.
McFarlain doubled to lead off the inning and moved to third base on a wild pitch. Hardy drove a 1-2 pitch deep enough in left field to score McFarlain on the sacrifice fly.
Karli Ortego was nearly flawless on the mound in picking up the win. Ortego gave up only three hits while walking one and striking out one in the game.
Game two against the Kinder Lady Yellow Jackets on Saturday was not a typical game for the Lady Panthers, as they were not able to get the bats going until the bottom of the seventh inning.
Kinder’s first runs of the game came in the bottom of the third inning, when the Lady Jackets collected two runs via a double and a triple.
Kinder added to their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning on a two-run single, giving the Lady Jackets a 4-0 lead.
Pine Prairie was determined not to go quietly into the afternoon, as the Lady Panthers made a late charge in the top of the seventh inning.
Hardy singled to lead off the inning and reached second on a one out error off of the bat of Wall. Following a strike out, Asia George walked, loading the bases.
Kailey Soileau singled, scoring Hardy and Wall. Ortego followed with another single, plating George. Unfortunately, the Lady Panthers’ rally ended there and the Lady Yellow Jackets took home the win with a final score of 4-3.
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TRACEY JAGNEAUX