We catch up with the Iowa baseball team after the Yellowjackets won the Non-Select Division II State Championship, as part of our State Champion Rewind Series.
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.
Landon Victorian put together one of the greatest pitching seasons in Barbe Baseball history as he posted an 8-0 record, struck out 80 batters, and posted a 0.97 ERA.
Andre Sam, the former Iowa Yellowjacket, and McNeese Cowboy defensive back, announced via Twitter Thursday afternoon that he would be transferring to LSU.
Sam Moore has been a staple in Southwest Louisiana high school baseball dugouts since 1991, as he was Leesville’s head coach in 1991 and 1992, Iowa’s head coach from 1992-94, Vinton’s in 1994 and 1995, and was at Sulphur from 2016-2023, but in 2024, it will be someone new in the Sulphur dugout.
With the LHSAA baseball State Championships ending this past weekend, the 2022-23 High School athletic year has come to an end, and the spring season ended with Southwest Louisiana bringing home a total of 42 individual, and team State Championships.
After Barbe beat West Monroe in the Non-Select Division I State Championship on Saturday, Barbe head coach Glenn Cecchini, and West Monroe head coach Wade Simoneaux exchanged words, which led to Simoneaux discussing the exchange on the radio Tuesday morning.
Barbe wins their 12th State Championship in program history after scoring nine runs in the seventh inning, highlighted by a Donovan LaSalle grand slam to put the Buccaneers in front.
After trailing 9-1 in the sixth inning, the DeQuincy Tigers scored nine runs between the sixth, and seventh innings to take a 10-9 lead, but in the end, it was the Oak Grove Tigers who outlasted the DeQuincy Tigers, as Oak Grove won the Non-Select Division IV State Championship 11-10 in 12 innings.
After a back-and-forth game, the Pitkin Tigers defeated the Anacoco Indians 8-4 in the Non-Select Division V State Championship on Friday, thanks in part to four RBIs by freshman Lincon Stephens who was named the Most Outstanding Player.
The Sulphur Golden Tors are back on their home turf for the LHSAA State Semi-Finals, and when they take the field at McMurry Park on Thursday night, they’ll do so against their rivals from across town, the Barbe Buccaneers, with a spot in the Non-Select Division I State Championship game on the line.
As the two-seed in the Non-Select Division I bracket, the Barbe Buccaneers received a Bi-District Round bye, and then in the Regional, and Quarterfinal Rounds the Bucs made easy work of their opponents beating Thibodaux and Neville by a combined score of 32-1 in their four games, but now they shift their focus to a familiar opponent, the Sulphur Golden Tors.
By Justin Margolius, Matthew Travis and Devon Distefano
Southwest Louisiana entered the Non-Select Division III Semi-Finals with two teams remaining, but after Kinder and South Beauregard fell on Wednesday afternoon, they go into the State Championship game with zero remaining.
In 2022 the Sam Houston Broncos fell to West Monroe in the Quarterfinals, one year later and the Broncos are set to face off against West Monroe once again, but this time in Sulphur with a spot in the Non-Select Division I State Championship game on the line, giving the Broncos a chance to get some revenge with everything to play for.
The Iowa Yellowjackets are back in the baseball State Semi-Finals after falling in the Quarterfinals last season. The Yellowjackets made it to Sulphur for the semis following an impressive two-game upset sweep of second-seeded North Vermillion in the Quarterfinals where they won 14-8 in extra innings, and 3-1 to make it back to Sulphur.
The third-seeded Pitkin Tigers took on the seventh-seeded Weston Wolves on Tuesday morning in the Non-Select Division V Semi-Finals, with a spot in the State Championship game on the line, and it came down to the very end.
The St. Louis Catholic Saints are once again in the LHSAA State Semi-Finals, but in order to advance to the State Championship, they'll have to go through Vandebilt Catholic in the Semi-Finals for the third consecutive year.
The South Beauregard Knights have made it to Sulphur for the first time since 2019, and unlike the outcome from that 2019 season where the Knights fell in the State Championship game, South Beauregard is hoping to bring home a State Title.
The 2022 Postseason was disappointing for the Kinder Yellow Jackets as they fell to 19th-seeded D’Arbonne Charter Woods in the Regional Round despite being the three-seed. Fast forward a year and they find themselves two wins away from capturing their first State Championship since 2015 and have made it to Sulphur for the Semi-Finals for the first time since 2019.
After a disappointing playoff run in 2022, the DeQuincy Tigers have bounced back, and find themselves just one game away from playing in the State Championship for the first time in 42 years.
SWLA started with a total of 28 teams in the LHSAA State Baseball Playoffs, and just under a month later, nine teams remain as the State Semi-Finals are set to begin.
The Oakdale Warriors boys 4x200 relay team held one of the best times in the state going into their district meet and were primed to move onto regionals until this moment.
The DeQuincy Tigers punched their ticket to the LHSAA Division IV Non-Select state semifinals after beating the Welsh Greyhounds on Thursday by a score of 11-2.
28 Southwest Louisiana teams made the LHSAA State Baseball Playoffs when they began mid-April, and over half of those teams are now out of the playoffs as the Quarterfinals began on Wednesday.
In addition to Southwest Louisiana having success in the LHSAA Boys Golf State Championships, the Barbe Lady Buccaneers brought home some hardware as well as they won the Division I State Championship by an impressive 44 strokes.
The LHSAA Boys Golf State Championship concluded on Tuesday afternoon, and they concluded with Southwest Louisiana claiming the team, and individual titles.
28 Southwest Louisiana teams made the LHSAA State Baseball Playoffs when they began mid-April, and nearly two weeks later just over half of those teams are still alive as the Quarterfinals are set to begin this week.
It has been a busy couple of weeks for high school baseball in Southwest Louisiana as 28 SWLA teams made the high school State Playoffs, and 21 advanced to the Regional Round as they attempted to continue their run to a State Championship.
The St. Amant Lady Gators took home the Non-Select Division I state championship with a 4-0 shut out win over the Sam Houston Lady Broncos on Saturday at Frasch Park.
We started with 27 Southwest Louisiana softball teams in the LHSAA State Playoffs, but as the rounds progressed, just two teams advanced to the Semi-Finals in Sulphur, the third-seeded Sam Houston Lady Broncos in the Non-Select Division I bracket, and the eighth-seeded Vinton Lady Lions in the Non-Select Division IV bracket.
Heading into Vinton’s Bi-District round matchup vs. Basile on April 14th, the Vinton softball team had never won a State Playoff game in program history, fast forward two weeks, and the Lady Lions have rattled off three wins, and find themselves one win away from playing for a State Championship for the first time in school history.
The Sam Houston Lady Broncos had an impressive 2023 regular season as they earned a three-seed in the Non-Select Division I State Playoff tournament, and the Broncos have continued to be impressive so far in the State Playoffs.
Sulphur infielder Landon Arrant made his college decision official on Tuesday as he signed his National Letter of Intent with Lane College in Jackson, Tennessee.
It’s been a busy couple of weeks in Southwest Louisiana when it comes to high school softball, but this week the 2023 season will come to an end, and there are still two Southwest Louisiana softball teams fighting for State Titles: Sam Houston and Vinton.
Six Southwest Louisiana teams advanced to the LHSAA Softball quarterfinal round, and when the round kicked off on Thursday as two teams have already punched their ticket to the semifinals.
The Sam Houston Lady Broncos are on their way to the LHSAA Non-Select Division I state semifinals after beating the Walker Lady Wildcats 4-1 in the quarterfinals on Friday.
This past week two prominent figures in Southwest Louisiana high school basketball were honored with awards, as Iowa High School head coach Rob Melanson won the Louisiana Sports Writers Association 3A Coach of the Year and St. Louis Catholic guard Paris Guillory won 3A Player of the Year.
28 Southwest Louisiana teams advanced to the LHSAA Baseball State Playoffs, and when the playoffs got underway on Thursday, 13 SWLA teams took to the diamond hoping to keep their state title hopes alive.
21 Southwest Louisiana teams were in action for the LHSAA Softball regional round as they hoped to continue their runs in the state playoffs, but now only six teams remain.
The LHSAA Baseball State Playoff brackets were released on Tuesday, and 28 Southwest Louisiana teams made it. The three-game series bi-district round is set to begin on Wednesday, with the regional round set to begin on April 25th.
After taking on Sam Houston just two days before with a 4-1 win, the Sulphur Golden Tors followed up that performance on Saturday with an 8-2 win at McMurry Park.
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