Barbe baseball wins Non-Select Division I State Championship

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - The Barbe Buccaneers beat Sulphur 5-1 in the Non-Select Division I Semi-Finals on Thursday night to advance to the State Championship on Saturday, where they would take on the reigning State Champions, and the top-seeded West Monroe Rebels.

Barbe was the first to strike on Saturday night as a passed ball brought in John Alexander from third base to put the Bucs up 1-0 in the second, but from there until the top of the seventh inning, it was all Rebels.

West Monroe tied the ballgame up in the third inning with a Jackson Cowan RBI double to knot the game up at one, and then in the very next at bat, Tyler Roark put the Rebels in front with an RBI double of his own as West Monroe took a 2-1 lead. The Rebels would add one more in the third thanks to a Barbe error on a drop-third strike, and then in the bottom of the fifth they extended their lead once more, with a Bucs passed ball that brought in a run making it a 4-1 ballgame.

Barbe failed to answer, but in the top of the seventh inning, they finally showed some life. The Bucs loaded the bases with just one away, and then Ashton Quiller took a pitch to the foot, bringing in the runner on third, making it a 4-2 ballgame with one out, and leadoff man, and Oklahoma State signee Donovan LaSalle stepping up to the plate.

LaSalle worked a 2-2 count, and then on the sixth pitch of the at-bat, he connected, and sent one to left field, as the Barbe faithful who were out in full force went silent, focusing on the ball in the air, and when West Monroe’s left fielder stopped and watched the ball soar over the fence as Barbe took their first lead since the third inning, the Buccaneer fans were sent into a frenzy. LaSalle, with one swing of the bat put the Buccaneers in front 6-4 in the final inning of the State Championship game, and the Barbe fans could feel it, but their team was far from done on the field.

The Buccaneers once again loaded the bases with still just one away, and two wild pitches cleared the bases as Barbe added three more runs, and added one more for good measure with a sacrifice fly to center field.

After entering the game’s final inning down 4-1, the Buccaneers scored nine runs to take a 10-4 lead, and flipped it on the reigning State Champions.

West Monroe was unable to mount a comeback, and with two outs in the bottom of the seventh, a grounder to none other than Donovan LaSalle, who was moved from center field to second base, ended the game and Barbe dogpiled in the middle of the infield following a miraculous come from behind win as Barbe won their 12th State Championship in program history.

“I’m so proud, every single guy, we had to use three different pitchers, and they all did a great job, that’s a great team right there, you know things didn’t go our way, we hit a lot of balls hard at them, they turned a lot of double plays, you know we got up 1-0, they’re a great team. We made some mistakes that we usually don’t make, they capitalized and hit a couple of balls hard, then we got down 4-1, but we always talk about it, don’t play the score, play the game, and you’re never out, it just goes to show you, that last inning we scored nine runs, we can really hit,” said Barbe head coach Glenn Cecchini.

“It’s great, I just did everything I can to help my team win, we wanted to win so bad and words just can’t express it,” said tournament MVP Donovan LaSalle.

For the full interview with head coach Glenn Cecchini, click here, for the full interview with Donovan LaSalle, click here.

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