CROSBY — Huffman-Hargrave pitcher Christin Haygood held the Little Cypress-Mauirceville softball team without a base runner through the first five innings.
When the Bears’ batters finally adjusted, it was too little, too late.
Haygood took a perfect game into the sixth inning, leading the Falcons to a 4-1 win over LC-M on Wednesday night in Game 1 of a Class 4A regional quarterfinal series at Crosby High School. The senior pitcher ended up allowing just three hits and finished with 10 strikeouts, staking Huffman-Hargrave to a 1-0 lead in the three-game series.
LC-M broke up the perfect game with a leadoff single in the sixth that came around to score, but the Bears couldn’t muster any more offense after that.
“We chipped away and we wrecked her perfect game, so even though we didn’t win, I’m still going to walk away with that positive,” LC-M head coach Dena Adkins said. “She’s going to come out and try to do the same thing against us tomorrow, but it might be a little tougher for her.”
Haygood’s stellar performance started right away, as she struck out four of the first six LC-M batters.
Huffman-Hargrave was then first on the scoreboard with a two-run second inning. RBIs from Madison Smith and Taylor Byron accounted for those runs.
Soon after in the third, Huffman-Hargrave added to its lead with a run-scoring triple by Hagen Pike that made it 3-0.
That’s where things stood in the the top of the sixth inning as LC-M still searched for its first base runner. Ansley Moore ended Haygood’s perfect game with a sharp single through the middle. Baylee Wheeler then brought Moore home with an RBI double that made it a 3-1 game.
However, Haygood quickly ended any thoughts of a comeback with groundout on the next at-bat. The Falcons scored an insurance run in the bottom half of the sixth before Haygood closed out the Bears in the seventh.
LC-M starting pitcher Karson Friar held her own in the circle, tossing a complete game while allowing seven hits and four walks while striking out seven Falcons.
“When she’s on, she’s really hard to hit,” Adkins said of Frair. “The defense was there behind her, too.”
Having just lost a de facto road game to fall behind in the series, LC-M will return to its “home away from home” as the Bears try to even things up.
Game 2 will be at 6 p.m. today in Bridge City, where the Bears won their first-round playoff series against Hardin-Jefferson. LC-M also lost Game 1 of that bi-district series then won the next two contests to advance.
“We got 10-run ruled there our first game against Hardin-Jefferson and then we came back and won two in a row,” Adkins said of returning to Bridge City. “Our backs have been against the wall before, and we know what the playoffs are all about.
“You either play hard or you go home. There is no sitting back and waiting for tomorrow.”
mfaye@beaumontenterprise.com
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