PORT ARTHUR, Texas – The Bossier Parish Community College Lady Cavs’ outstanding season came to a close with a 9-7 loss to No. 3 Tyler Junior College in the championship round of the Region XIV Tournament on Monday.
BPCC finished the season 44-12, a school record for victories.
The Lady Cavs trailed the Lady Apaches 9-4 going into the bottom of the final inning. They rallied with three runs but couldn’t come all the way back.
Zoe Hancock, Dorrie Cormier and Jayleen Lantier all had two hits for BPCC. Morgan Bullock had two RBI.
Galveston College won the tournament. TJC (53-12) finished runner-up. Both advance to the NJCAA Division I Softball Tournament on May 16-19 at the Canyons Complex in St. George, Utah.
BPCC won two games on Sunday to stay alive.
In the final game of the day, BPCC used a seven-run fourth inning to dispose of the Blinn College Buccaneers by a 10-2 run-rule victory in six innings. Cormier turned in her best performance as Lady Cavalier as she went 4-for-4 at the plate with a pair of two-out, two-RBI doubles, including the game winner.
The Rayne native had two hits in BPCC’s big fourth inning. She led off the inning with a single, then would deliver the first of her two doubles, which chased Blinn starter Meg Morris.
With BPCC leading 8-2 in the sixth, Cormier drilled a double over the head of Blinn center fielder Sarah Cedillo and off the top of the fence. That allowed Chelsea Fagan and Shelrika Bryant to cross the plate and send the Lady Cavaliers into Monday’s loser’s bracket finals.
Behind an outstanding pitching performance from sophomore Elisa Favela, BPCC eliminated Trinity Valley Community College 3-1 in an earlier game.
avela carried a no-hitter into the seventh inning before Cardinal second baseman Kimberly Abundis laced a single into center field. Two batters later TVCC’s Caitlin Mora singled home Savannah Martinez, who had led off the inning with a walk. Favela got Kristina Sanchez to fly out to left to end the game and send BPCC to the loser’s bracket semifinals. Favela walked two and struck out six in tossing the complete game two-hitter.
The Lady Cavaliers took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning when Hancock and Bryant scored on a throwing error by Cardinals pitcher Martinez. Martinez would recover quickly after that error and be equally as impressive as her counterpart Favela.
The sophomore retired 12 Lady Cavaliers in order until giving up a pair of walks in the fifth. She did not allow another hit or run until the sixth when Cormier’s two-out, infield single scored Bryant to give the Lady Cavs a 3-0 lead.
— Charlie Cavell, BPCC athletic coordinator; Staff Reports
