The No. 18 seed Parkway Panthers advanced to the second round of the Class 5A playoffs with a 5-2 victory over No. 15 Sulphur Monday at McMurry Park.
Parkway (20-10), which has won nine of its last 10, will visit No. 2 West Monroe (22-7) in the second round, which is best-of-3. Second-round series must be completed by May 4.
West Monroe, the District 2-5A champion, defeated No. 31 Natchitoches Central 2-1 in the first round.
Three other parish teams are scheduled to play first-round games Tuesday.
In Class 5A, District 1 champion Benton (26-5), the No. 7 seed, hosts No. 26 Chalmette (17-10) at 5 p.m. Haughton (25-7), the No. 8 seed, hosts No. 26 Lafayette (10-19) at 6.
In a Class 3A, No. 28 Bossier (8-17) plays No. 5 Iowa (17-14) at 6 at McMurry Park.
In a Class 1A first-round game Wednesday, No. 17 Plain Dealing (6-13) visits No. 16 Block (6-12) at 5.
At McMurry Park, Trenton Defatta went 4-for-4 for the Panthers. Trenton Lape, Zach Schoenborn and Barrett Newman all went 2-for-3 with one RBI apiece.
Hayden Knotts had a double.
Brandon Levy got the win. He allowed four hits and struck out seven in 4 2/3 innings.
Hunter Delcomyn turned in an outstanding performance in 2 1/3 innings of relief. He didn’t allow a hit or a walk.
Parkway got off to good start, scoring one in the top of the first and two in the second. Sulphur (17-18) answered with one in the bottom of the second.
Knotts led off the game with his double and advanced to third on Brady Norcross’ sacrifice bunt. He scored on a Levy groundout to second.
Lape, Schoenborn and Newman opened the second with consecutive singles, making it 3-0.
After a leadoff triple, Sulphur loaded the bases with two outs in the bottom of the inning thanks to a pair of walks. Another walk put the Tors on the board, but Levy limited the damage by inducing a groundout.
The Panthers extended the lead to 4-1 in the fifth on a Lape single with two outs and the bases loaded. Defatta had a two-out single in the inning.
Sulphur cut the lead to 4-2 with a run with two outs in the bottom of the inning.
Parkway loaded the bases with two outs in the seventh. Levy and Defatta singled and Lape was hit by a pitch.
Scoenborn walked on five pitches, scoring Levy for the game’s final run.
Delcomyn struck out the leadoff batter in the bottom of the inning then induced a groundout and popout.
