The Jena Lady Giants had a busy week this past week and displayed the type of offense that wins championships. The team had five games last week, all against quality teams that will be in the playoffs in their divisions at the end of the season. On Monday, March 10, the Lady Giants would be at home against one of the best softball programs in the state in the Buckeye Lady Panthers. Buckeye won the district last season and has won three state championships in a row. Two years ago, the Lady Giants won a thriller in extra innings against the Lady Panthers. Last year Buckeye would dominate at the plate and would defeat Jena in Buckeye. Jena would come into the game looking to stay unbeaten in district. Buckeye would come into the game with one district loss and would look to get even in the standings with Jena with a victory.
Buckeye would get on the board first on an RBI double by Adysen Mitchell to give the Lady Panthers a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. That would be the score until the bottom of the 3rd inning when Jena senior third basemen Haylee Dangerfield would hit a solo homerun to right field to tie the game at one.
After Jena pitcher Kiette Cooper gave up the double in the first inning, she would not give up another hit in the game. In the bottom of the 4th inning the Lady Giants’ bats would come alive. Freshman Kaylee Hardie would hit her first career homerun which would be a two-run homerun to left field to give Jena a 4-1 lead. Haylee Dangerfield would hit a 2 RBI triple to put Jena up 6-1. Then Kiette Cooper would come up and put the game away as she would hit a grand slam over the centerfield fence to give the Lady Giants an 11-1 lead.
Jena would go on to win 11-1 in 5 innings. Kiette Cooper would give up one run on one hit and finish with 12 strikeouts in the game. Haylee Dangerfield, Callie Decker, and Kiette Cooper all would have multiple hits in the game.
On Tuesday, March 11, the Lady Giants would have a home game against Franklin Parish. The Lady Patriots are at #12 in the Division II Non-Select rankings which is a higher division than what the Lady Giants are in. Jena would have no problem with Franklin Parish though as they would win 15-0 in 3 innings.
Sophomore Bayleigh Roszell would pick up the win allowing only one hit and finishing with 2 strikeouts. Sophomore catcher Mary Wood would hit two homeruns and drive in three runs. Kiette Cooper, Triniti Williams, and Bailey Durham would all hit home runs in the game.
On Thursday, March 13, the Lady Giants would travel to Caldwell for another district matchup. Last year Jena would take a 10-2 lead into the bottom of the seventh inning, but Caldwell would score 9 runs in the bottom of the seventh, including a tworun walk off homerun to defeat Jena 11-10.
Once again, the Lady Giants would come into the game undefeated in district play while Caldwell would come in with one loss and looking to get even with Jena in the standings with a win.
Caldwell would hit a homerun to take a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning and they would pick up another run in the bottom of the third inning to lead 2-0.
In a very similar fashion to how the Buckeye game went, in the top of the fourth inning Haylee Dangerfield would come to the plate with the bas-es loaded. Dangerfield would then hit a line drive over the center field fence for a grand slam that would put the Lady Giants on top 5-2. The Lady Giants would score 9 runs in the inning to take a 9-2 lead.
They would add two more runs in the top of the fifth and one in the top of the sixth and would go on to win 12-2 in 6 innings.
Kiette Cooper would pick up the win as she would give up 2 runs on 5 hits and would finish with 11 strikeouts and no walks. Haylee Dangerfield, Callie Decker, Sydney Williams, and Kaylee Hardie would all have multiple hits in the game.
On Friday, March 14, the Lady Giants would travel to Brusly to take on a couple of good teams from south Louisiana. In the first game, Jena would have a matchup with Assumption who was 12-2 coming into the game and ranked in the top 5 of Division II Non-Select which is a higher class than what Jena is in.
This game would be an all-time classic! Haylee Dangerfield would tie the game at 2 with a homerun in the 7th inning. In the bottom of the 8th inning Callie Decker would hit a walk off three run homerun to give the Lady Giants a 5-2 win. Decker would have a great day at the plate for the Lady Giants as she would go 4-5 in the game. Kiette Cooper would once again be dominant in the circle as she picked up the complete game victory finishing with 15 strikeouts.
In game number two of the night, the Lady Giants would have a familiar face in the opposing dugout. The Lady Giants would take on Thibodaux, which is led by head coach Darian Thacker, who was a great pitcher for Jena in her high school career leading the Lady Giants all the way to the state championship game.
This would be another big game for the Lady Giants as Thibodaux is in the highest division in the state and came in with 9 wins on the season. The game would come down to some late heroics once again as the Lady Giants were down 5-4 in the bottom of the 7th inning when freshman Kaylee Hardie would hit a walk off two run single to give the Lady Giants the 6-5 victory.
Callie Decker would have 3 hits in the game. Kiette Cooper would pitch two innings in relief and finish with 5 strikeouts. It was a great week for the Lady Giants as they finished the week 5-0 and now their record is 11-3 overall and 3-0 in district. Also with all these wins over good teams the Lady Giants have risen all the way to #2 in the power rankings for Division III Non-Select.
This week, the Lady Giants will be at home on Tuesday against Bunkie for another district matchup and this weekend they will in Shreveport for the Calvary tournament which should once again have some great competition to prepare Jena for the playoffs.
If you haven’t attended a Lady Giant softball game this season, all I can say is get to the ballpark. This year’s team is earning the reputation of dramatic wins along with earning the nickname: The Bomb Squad.
Photos from the Buckeye game:
