Sports Person of the Week - Gabrielle Lafferty

DeQuincy, LA (KPLC) - DeQuincy pitcher Gabrielle Lafferty faced adversity before softball season started and is now stronger because of it.

“I got in a car accident last year and I broke my humorous and I couldn’t play until January of this year,” said Lafferty. “It was kind of hard at the beginning, but I had all my friends by my side and pushed me to keep going and it just kept getting easier after that.”

Fast forward to today and Lafferty has led the Tigers to the quarterfinals for the first time in eight seasons and are fresh off a walk-off win against Pine in the regional round of the class 2A playoffs.

“It feels pretty amazing because we’ve all had our little ups and downs this season, but we’ve all stuck through it and believed in each other,” Lafferty said.

This Lady Tiger has been clawing batters all season long throwing 111 strike outs in 22 games and is currently 2-0 in the playoffs with a 1.5 ERA.

“She’s been a difference maker for us this year in the circle she’s thrown a lot of innings for us and really keeps her composure well and the fight back from a physical stand point has just been impressive and there was no excuses ever,” said DeQuincy head coach Matt Gallien. “Even the wreck was never an excuse it was just about what she needed to do to get better.”

As the tigers look ahead, they have a big game against district rival Kinder and are aiming to make it to the semifinals in Sulphur.

“Honestly just getting to Sulphur would be our biggest accomplishment and winning would be even better, but we’re just getting there day-by-day and one game at time,” said Lafferty.

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