On the prowl

PINE PRAIRIE -- On Monday afternoon the Pine Prairie Lady Panthers stayed on the prowl toward another shot at a district championship when they eased past the Mamou Lady Demons 9-1.
With the win Pine Prairie improves to 21-3 on the season and 9-1 in District 5-3A play. The Lady Panthers will host Northwest on Tuesday.
After the loss, Mamou falls to 14-12 on the year and 4-6 in league play. The Lady Demons will travel to Eunice on Monday to take on the Lady Bobcats.
After the game, Pine Prairie head coach Woody Harvey gave credit to Mamou and looked ahead to the last four district games of the season.
“Hats off to them, they played a hard fought game,” stated Harvey. “They did a good job of keeping us off balance at the plate to start the game, but after a few innings we adjusted and were able to produce the offense needed to win the game.”
“It is going to be a challenge these last few district games,” he continued. “We still have to play Crowley, who beat us earlier, and Iota. We just have to do what it takes to get the wins down the stretch.”
Although Mamou came up on the short side of the contest, Lady Demon head coach Kim Manuel praised her team for their effort.
“They have a really good team,” commented Manuel. “We had our chances, but the girls never gave up and battled the entire game. As long as we can continue to improve, we will be ready come playoff time.”
Mamou left no doubt that they had come to play, taking the early lead in the contest. After shutting down a Pine Prairie threat in the bottom of the first inning, the Lady Demons struck first in the top of the second inning.
Taylor Douget led off with a base hit and moved over to second base on a sacrifice bunt from Angel Menier. Following a strike out, Tierane Thomas blasted a double to right-center field, scoring Douget.
The Lady Panthers threatened once again in the bottom of the third inning, putting runners at second and third with two out, but the Mamou defense held solid and kept their 1-0 lead.
The Lady Demons were sent down in order in the top of the fourth, allowing the Pine Prairie offense to begin their march toward taking over the game.
Lead off batter Allie Fontenot grounded out to first base, but was followed by a double off of the bat of Kailey Soileau. Brianna Wall continued the hot batting, also doubling to bring in Soileau.
A base hit by Sydia King allowed Wall to score and gave Jacie McFarlain a chance to pick up an RBI, as she doubled home King. After a fly out to center field, Tori Johnson singled to center field to plate McFarlain.
Abby Fontenot would single, but the rally would end on another fly out. Never-the-less, the Lady Panthers now owned a 4-1 lead.
Pine Prairie picked up another run in the bottom of the fifth to extend their lead to 5-1. With Soileau at first and one out, Wall reached base on a fielder’s choice when the Mamou defense tried to turn a double play. Kaitlin Robinson followed with a single moving Wall to second.
McFarlain picked up another RBI as she singled home Wall. Robinson was caught going from first to third for the final out of the at bat.
Mamou was only able to collect two singles the rest of the way, as starting Lady Panther pitcher Karli Ortego shut down the Lady Demon offense the rest of the way.
Pine Prairie finished the game with a flurry of runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Maycie Hardy reached first on a base hit to lead things off and moved to second base with a deep fly ball to left field from Johnson.
However, Hardy was caught stealing third base for the second out of the inning. Abby Fontenot singled to keep the inning alive.
An error by the Mamou first baseman allowed Fontenot to reach second and put Asia George at first base. Allie Fontenot, Soileau and Wall all followed with singles, plating the final four runs of the game for Pine Prairie.