The No. 18 seed Haughton Bucs defeated No. 15 Southside 3-2 in nine innings in Game 1 of a best-of-3 non-select Division I first-round playoff series Friday in Youngsville.
Airline, the No. 17 seed, fell to No. 16 Mandeville 8-1 at Mandeville. The victory gave the Skippers a sweep of the series and brought the Vikings’ season to an end.
At Southside, the game went into extra innings tied at one after Haughton’s Ashton Neighbors induced a pop fly with two outs and runners at second and third in the bottom of the seventh.
Haughton left two stranded in the top of the eighth. Brady Bockhaus took the mound in the bottom of the inning and sat the Sharks down in order.
Maddox Williams singled with one out in the top of the ninth. Starting pitcher Seth Jorstad followed with a triple and scored on a passed ball.
Southside scored a run on an error with two outs. But Bockhaus induced a groundout to end the game.
Jorstad went 6 1/3 innings. He scattered six hits, struck out five and walked two.
Haughton took a 1-0 lead in the fourth. Jorstad led off with a single. Courtesy runner Mason Anderson advanced to third on an error and scored on a double by CT Woodard.
The Bucs had seven hits. Woodard and Jorstad had two each. Russ Barrett had a double. Williams and Carson Plant had one hit each.
The Bucs (21-14) and Sharks (20-13) are scheduled to play Game 2 at 11 a.m. Game 3, if necessary, is scheduled for 30 minutes after Game 2 ends.
At Mandeville, Airline was limited to three hits. All three came off Arden Calegan in the last two innings. Mandeville starter Greyson Parker struck out eight, walked none and hit one batter in five innings.
Bo Carter and Austin Smith had one double each. Leo Heng had a single.
After a slow start to the season, Airline finished 20-14. The Vikings made a strong run for a share of the District 1-5A championship before finishing in second, one game behind Benton.
Mandeville improved to 25-8.
Benton, the No. 6 seed, received a first-round bye. The Tigers (27-5-2) will host the winner between No. 11 Central and No. 22 St. Amant in a second-round series next week.
Plain Dealing (12-15), the No. 22 seed, visits No. 11 Delcambre (13-16) in a non-select Division IV first-round game Tuesday at 6.