Champion Rewind Series - Barbe Baseball

Lake Charles, LA (KPLC) - The Barbe Buccaneers are coming off one of the most exhilarating State Championship wins in program history as they beat the West Monroe Rebels 10-4 in the final inning of the Non-Select Division I LHSAA Championship.

After a few weeks, we caught back up with the Buccaneers to talk about the dramatic win, and what the championship win meant to them.

Donovan LaSalle, who hit a go-ahead grand slam home run to give the Buccaneers the lead 6-4 over West Monroe, reminisced on the off-season that put him in a position to help Barbe in their tournament run. During the team’s 2022 playoff run, LaSalle struck out on Barbe’s final out against St. Amant as the Gators beat the Buccaneers to move on to the LHSAA Semifinals and he believes that moment prepared him for the home run that he hit in the championship game.

“It was a tough series against a great St. Amant team, but that just fueled us in the offseason and we had a fire about us, you know, people were doubting us, saying that we weren’t a playoff team at the beginning of the season and just hearing that helped our team, I think and it just fueled our fire,” said LaSalle.

LaSalle’s home run in the seventh against West Monroe helped power a nine-run inning as the Buccaneers ran away with the game in the final inning winning by six.

With Barbe’s senior class being the driving force to win their 12th State Championship, multiple players from the team made it known just how special the win was.

“We worked so hard, the 5:00 AM workouts, mental training, and it was a goal ever since the beginning of the year, so it was all just a matter of putting it into motion and finding a way to get the job done,” said senior Ashton Quiller.

“Happiest I’ve ever been in my life, and especially cause that comeback, oh my gosh it means everything, I mean just going through all the great teams here at this school like the 2014 team, 2021 team, and we’re the best team I mean that’s crazy,” said senior Presley Courville.

Head Coach of the Barbe Buccaneers Glenn Cecchini has now won half of the baseball state championships in the last 24 years, but he made it clear that he relishes seeing his players celebrate the moment over anything.

“I was so happy for them, it was such a dramatic win for us, and I think this team is the best team in the history of Louisiana prep baseball,” said Cecchini. “I mean it’s sometimes surreal, I remember in 1992 when we won our first district championship and I go we finally did it and then you know, it took like five years and then we won our first state championship, it took 11 and now we’ve won 12 in 24 years, to win every other year now is just special.”

Even with the win, the Buccaneers now shift their focus to next season as they try to repeat as champions for the first time since they won back-to-back titles in 2014 and 2015.

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