Sports

Jena High senior Jeffrey Arnold signed last week to play baseball for a brand new baseball program at Champion Christian College in Hot Springs, Ark. Arnold signed a non-binding form to become a Champion Tiger and according to Head Coach Dwain Roark will start for the team as a first baseman and pitcher.

The signing was celebrated by coaches, teammates, family and friends with refreshments at the JHS Home Ec. Cottage. “The dream to play college ball has always been there,” Arnold said regarding signing with CCC. “I’m excited about playing for Champion. I’d like to thank all my coaches and teammates and my family for helping me get here today.” Arnold has played Giant Baseball all four years with District 3-3A First Team First Base honors this year. He primarily played first base and pitched for the Giants..

For the first time in 18 years, the #2 Harrisonburg Bulldog baseball team has a shot at the Louisiana State Championship. The Bulldogs will face #3 Summerfield at 2 p.m., Wednesday, on Field 37 in the semi-final game. The winner of this game will face the winner of the Simpson/Georgetown semi-final match-up, at 1 p.m. on Friday, May 11, on Field 37. In 2000, sophomore 2nd baseman Clay McGuffee didn’t realize he one day would be back on the coaching side. But on May 4, 2018, McGuffee’s high school baseball coach T

homas Sinclair sat and watched the Bulldog team punch their ticket to the State semi-finals in Sulphur after defeating Ebarb High School in the Quarterfinals. What is really neat for this small Class C school is that this comes just a little over a week after the Harrisonburg Lady Dawgs finished as State Runner Up at the Louisiana State Championship.

The LaSalle Tigers went to Ferriday last Thursday afternoon as the number one ranked team in Class 1A baseball. They were prepared to take on Delta Charter in the quarterfinals of the state playoffs. The Tigers were sending to the mound, Eli Stringer, who was 11-0 on the year and looking to go 12-0.

The Tigers had defeated Delta Charter in the opening game of the season, 7-1; but Delta Charter had been on a roll as of late. The Storm would hold LaSalle scoreless through five innings and were able to get Eli to throw 85 pitches through three innings. The Storm would battle at the plate and did a great job of two strike hitting.

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The Jena High School Lady Giants played in the Class 3A State semifinals on Saturday morning at the 2018 Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Softball State Tournament at Frasch Park in Sulphur.

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The LaSalle High School Lady Tigers were named Class 1A State Runner-Up on Saturday at the 2018 Allstate Sugar Bowl/LHSAA Softball State Tournament at Frasch Park in Sulphur.

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By Greg Jones

The LaSalle Tigers have captured the 3-1A Baseball title that has eluded them since 2008. They did win the 1A State Championship last season, but these guys felt as if something was missing. According to the players I talked to they were over the moon about the State Title, but still had to tell everyone that they finished 3rd in 3-1A play. They felt as if they let some games slip away last year by losing to Logansport, Block, and St. Mary’s. This year would be different.

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By Austin Whatley

The Jena Giants came into this past week with two big opportunities. With one win over Caldwell the Giants would be the 3-3A District Champions. The other opportunity would be if the Giants could win at least 4 of their 5 remaining games then they would set a new school record with their 24th win.

The Giants would also have a busy week as they would play 5 games, as they would prepare themselves for the playoffs. The Giants came into the week with an undefeated district record and would be playing Caldwell twice. The Spartans had 2 district losses and had to beat Jena both times to become district champions.

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By Austin Whatley

The Jena Lady Giants softball team finished up their regular season this past week. The Lady Giants finished the regular season with a 17-10 overall record and a 4-1 district record which was good enough to earn them district runners up in District 3-3A. The Lady Giants’ great regular season earned them the #11 seed in the Class 3A The Jena Lady Giant Seniors Cat Bailey, Tiondra Brown, Kayelea Dearmon and Kat Wilson were recently honored by their coaches Head Coach Sarah Roark and Assistant Coaches K.C. Garcia, Mark Andrews, Tonya Ledbetter and Stacy Morgan during their final home game against Franklin Parish which the Lady Giants won 8 to 4. Jena Lady Giant Senior KayeLea Dearmon

By Greg Jones

The LaSalle Lady Tigers finished the regular season with non-district wins against Jena and Plainview.

The Jena game would be a nine-inning affair that would end on a Taylor Snow laser down the third base line. This was a great high school softball game as the Jena Lady Giants scored 4 runs in the top of the seventh inning on a couple of home runs to tie the game.

But, in the end it would be the Lady Tigers that came away with the win 7-6. It was a great high school softball game gearing up for the LHSAA state playoffs. These are certainly two teams that I expect to be competing in Sulphur for a State Championship in their separate divisions.

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The current weight room at JHS has been used for decades and can only fit about 23 people at one time. This means the football team of 70 members has to work out at three different times. The new field house will be large enough to allow the entire team to work out at the same time. (See story.)

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