Defending champion Kaplan upended in state quarterfinals

Kaplan’s softball team was behind on the scoreboard in the bottom of the seventh inning on Saturday, but the Pirates had the momentum.

Trailing fifth-seeded Jena by four runs after four innings in a Division III nonselect quarterfinal game, the Pirates scored one run in the fifth, two in the sixth and got the tying run in scoring position when leadoff hitter Kennedy Marceaux walked and moved to second on a daring steal.

Jena sophomore pitcher Kiette Cooper struck out the next two hitters, however, and recorded the third out on a line drive as the Giants advanced 4-3 to face No. 1 Sterlington in the semifinals on Friday at Frasch Park in Sulphur.

“These girls never quit,” Kaplan coach Brittany LeBeouf said. “They played their butts off and fought until the final out. I’m proud of them. I wouldn’t go to war with any other team.”

No. 4 Kaplan (27-6) outhit the Giants 9-5 and collected at least one hit in each of the first six innings. Marceaux, a senior Alabama signee, doubled to lead off the bottom of the first. Reagan Smith led off the second inning with the first of two doubles.

Cooper, who hit a three-run home run for the Giants (21-11), worked her way out of potential jams and didn’t allow a run until Jessa Lopez’s double followed a single from Abigail Ford.

“We had runners in scoring position in each of the first three innings and couldn’t scratch a run across,” LeBeouf said. “It’s a heartbreaker when you can’t score. We executed at the plate and hit some balls right at them. I can’t tell you why we didn’t score. Sometimes things just don’t go your way.”

Ford and Landon Greene, who smashed a two-run homer in the sixth, led the Pirates with two hits apiece. Kaplan’s Briley LeBeouf struck out 13 and walked none in seven innings.

“Obviously everybody is hurt, but the game is about way more than winning and losing,” coach LeBeouf said. “It’s about becoming a better person and teammate.

“I’m proud of my team; I’m proud of my seniors. They left it all on the line today. Every one of those seniors left our program as better people. That’s what playing sports is about.”

Kaplan, which won the 2023 state title, has reached at least the quarterfinals every year since 2017.