The Bossier Parish Community College Lady Cavaliers’ outstanding season likely came to an end Sunday with an 8-5 loss to Trinity Valley Community College in the Region XIV East Tournament at the University of Texas-Tyler.
BPCC, the No. 1 seed, defeated Navarro College 8-5 Sunday morning to advance to the championship round. After losing to No. 3 TVCC 10-4 Saturday, the Lady Cavs would have had to defeat the Cardinals twice to take the title.
BPCC, ranked No. 8 in NJCAA Division I, dropped to 46-8. The win total is a school record. The Lady Cavs won the Region XIV regular-season title with a 23-1 record. TVCC (32-13) advances to the NJCAA Division I Championship tournament May 25-29 in Yuma, Ariz.
BPCC Athletic Director John Rennie said the Lady Cavs’ only chance of making the national tournament is as a replacement for a team that earns an automatic bid but is unable to go for any reason.
BPCC scored a run in the top of the first but TVCC answered with three in the bottom of the inning. All three came on Kimane Rogron’s home run with two outs.
BPCC tied it with three in the top of the fifth. The Lady Cavs had three singles and took advantage of a hit-by-pitch and two walks. After tying it at 4, BPCC still had the bases loaded with no outs. But TVCC turned a double play on a ball hit back to the pitcher and got a strikeout to end the threat.
TVCC put one on the board in the bottom of the inning to go up 5-4. The Lady Cavs again knotted the score with a run in the top of the sixth.
But the Cardinals scored three in the bottom of the sixth on five singles. Nicolette Blenker led off the top of the seventh with a double, but a strikeout followed by a double play ended the game.
Blenker went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Uchenna Jong Loy went 2-for-4 with a solo home run, her 26th of the season. Hailey Pence had two hits, including a double.
TVCC got 12 hits off three BPCC pitchers. Jenna Johnson went 3-for-4 with a double. Rogron went 2-for-3 with the home run, a double and four RBI. Ciara Ford hit a solo home run.
The Lady Cavs’ victory over Navarro was its second over the Bulldogs in the tournament. BPCC won 4-2 in a first-round game Friday.
Dyllan Sanay went 2-for-3 with two RBI. Blenker hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the first to give BPCC a 3-2 lead.
Samantha Eckert, Haylee Ladner and Jong Loy had one double apiece. Four pitchers limited Navarro to six hits.
