Sam Houston’s Kennedy pitches perfect game against Eunice
By Jamie Anfenson-Comeau
LAKE CHARLES – Sam Houston’s Katie Kennedy pitched a perfect game against the Lady Cats Thursday, helping the Lady Broncos to a 10-run shutout against Eunice High (13-6-2; 4-2).
“We came out in the first inning and we made some errors which we hadn’t made in the last three weeks, since the last Sam Houston game,” Lady Cat head coach Scott Deshotel said after the game.
“I think it’s kind of mental now, with us and Sam Houston. We’re not playing our best against them and that’s a team you need to play your best against.”
After retiring the Lady Cats’ first three batters, Sam Houston jumped out with three runs before the Lady Cats were able to close out the inning.
The Lady Broncos added two more runs in the bottom of the second inning, and three more in the bottom of the third, giving Sam Houston a 8-0 lead.
The Lady Cats were able to hold Sam Houston scoreless for the fourth and fifth innings before the Lady Broncos scored two runs in the bottom of the sixth to force the mercy rule win.
Kennedy pitched the perfect win, giving up no hits, runs or walks in the entire six-inning game while striking out nine batters in 18 at-bats.
“They jumped on us early and we lost confidence a little bit, but they’re got to come here in a couple of weeks, and our girls will be looking forward to that challenge; we’ve just got to continue working hard and get better and get ready for our stretch run in district and our playoff opportunity coming up,” Deshotel said.
Eunice will wrap up its district season by hosting Sam Houston in a rainout makeup on April 7 at 5 p.m.
“We’re looking for the challenge of them coming over here to Lady Cat Field, and we’ll be ready for that one,” Deshotel added.
Before then, the Lady Cats still have two more District 4-4A games this week, hosting DeRidder on Tuesday and LaGrange on Thursday.
Sam Houston currently leads the district 5-0; DeRidder is 2-4, and LaGrange is 0-6.
Despite the playoffs looming on the horizon in a couple of weeks, Deshotel said that the team has remained focused on finishing out the remainder of the season.
“I think our group has been pretty focused. We’ve been taking it game by game over the last three weeks,” Deshotel said.
“The last Sam Houston game we didn’t do real well, and this one neither, but other than that we’ve been real focused, the girls have played well, and we’ve just got to continue to get better starting with DeRidder on Tuesday.”