Bucs blast Haughton to set up rematch with Sam Houston
Warren Arceneaux
Barbe did its part Wednesday in setting up a battle of area softball titans with a 15-0, four-inning Class 5A regional win over Haughton, setting up a weekend clash with District 3-5A rival Sam Houston.
No. 6 Sam Houston advanced with an 11-1 win over Live Oak in five innings.
The winner of that game, to be played Saturday at No. 3 Barbe (28-2), will advance to next week’s state championship tournament in Sulphur. Barbe and Sam Houston (26-5) split a pair of regular-season games with each team winning at home.
Barbe wasted little time against Haughton, taking control with five runs in the first inning, highlighted by a Nyjah Fontenot RBI triple off the right-field fence and a three-run home run to center by Sarah David.
Fontenot homered to left-center field in the second inning. The Bucs scored five runs in both the third and fourth innings to invoke the mercy rule.
Every Barbe starter reached base and scored a run. Fontenot finished 3-for-3 with two RBIs and two runs scored. David drive in four runs and Kylie Dehart had two hits, scored twice and drove in two runs. She singled with the bases loaded in the bottom of the fourth to end the game.
“We wanted to wait and gets pitches in the strike zone that we could se well and they did exactly that,” Barbe head coach Candyce Carter said.
Pappion allowed one hit, a leadoff single in the fourth inning by Madison Trujillo. She struck out nine with no walks.
“She was getting ahead, pounding the strike zone and did a great job,” Carter said of Pappion.
Since losing at Sam Houston on April 6, Barbe has won five consecutive games, outscoring opponents 57-4.
“We got back locked in and are trying to find a way to win every game,” Carter said. “I love this group. I have had most of them for three or four years and they fight. They never quit. We’ve got great chemistry. My favorite thing about them is that they love each other and truly want success for each other.”
The Bucs’ Sarah David is congratulated after hitting a three-run home run in the first inning against Haughton during a Class 5A regional playoff game Wednesday at Barbe High School