Parkway High School sent its baseball team off to south Louisiana in style Wednesday.
A special send-off ceremony from Parkway’s student body and faculty was held at the school as the team heads to Sulfur to play Sam Houston in the state semifinals.
The game is set for 8 p.m. Thursday. If they win, they will play the winner between No. 1 Barbe (36-3) and No. 5 West Monroe (27-11) for the State Championship at 6 p.m. Saturday.
The Panthers (31-5) are ranked No. 3 in the state and No. 5 in the nation.
District 1-5A champion Parkway defeated No. 30 Natchitoches Central 10-0 in the first round. The Panthers swept No. 14 Airline 6-4 and 11-9 in the second and No. 11 Northshore 5-0 and 3-1 in the quarterfinals.
“We talk about this all the time with the players. We talk about team and we talk about family,” Parkway Head Coach David George told the Press-Tribune in this season’s playoffs. “They have fun. I think that’s the key to us.”
The Panthers’ last championship was in 1998 in Class 4A.
