Falls one game short of Championship
The Jena Lady Giants had their dreams of a state championship stopped last Saturday as the eventual Division III Non-Select State Champion, the Sterlington Lady Panthers, edged out a 1-0 victory in their semifinal matchup. Sterlington would go on to defeat Kaplan for the state championship 5-4.
The Lady Giants made their annual trip south to Frasch Park in Sulphur, Louisiana this past weekend, as they were schedule to play on Friday, but the decision was made earlier in the week to move the games back a day because of rain forecasted for Friday. This ended up being a great decision as it would rain all day Friday across the state.
On Saturday, May 2, the weather would be beautiful as the sun would come out to dry the fields and the temperature would feel like early spring. The #1 Lady Giants would take on #5 Sterlington in the semifinal round of the Division III Non-Select playoffs.
The two teams are very familiar with each other as the seniors on the two teams would be meeting for the third time in their four-year career in the semifinals. Sterlington won in 2023 and 2024.
This would be the fifth time Sterlington has made it to the semifinals since 2013. This would be the ninth time that the Lady Giants have made the semifinals since 2013. Sterlington has one state championship in that time (2024) while the Lady Giants have one state championship in 2021. The two teams met on April 6th in Sterlington with Jena winning 10-0 in 5 innings. Sterlington’s star freshman pitcher Ansley Johnson would not pitch in that game.
It would be a great crowd on hand as the Jena fans would be loud throughout the game. Sterlington would get on the board in the top of the 1st inning as Austin Carter would come in to score on an RBI double by JaLeeyah Alford. That one run ended up being the difference in the ballgame.
The Lady Giants would threaten in the bottom of the 1st and 3rd inning as they would have multiple runners on base but could not get them in. Sterlington pitcher Ansley Johnson would pitch well only giving up 4 hits in the game and striking out six.
Jena’s senior pitcher Kiette Cooper would pitch well, giving up only one run on seven hits, and finished with thirteen strikeouts.
The Lady Giants would be unable to score a run and for only the second time would be shutout this season. Sterlington would win 1-0 and would go on to play #2 Kaplan in the state championship.
It was not the ending that the Lady Giants wanted, but they have nothing to hang their heads about. This senior class is one of the most successful in school history winning three district championships and making it to Sulphur all four years.
The Lady Giants will miss this group of seniors, but will return a large group of juniors that started this season for next year.
Congratulations ladies on an incredible season!
