The month of April is littered with red-letter dates. Among them are April 12, 1861, when Fort Sumter was attacked to begin the Civil War; April 9, 1865, when Robert E. Lee surrendered to Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox Courthouse; and April 15, 1865, when Abraham Lincoln was assassinated at Ford’s Theater.
Now, April 19, 2024, goes down as another red-letter date in the history books as it was the day the Oakdale Lady Warrior softball team punched its first ticket to the state tournament with a 1-0 win over Oak Grove.
Head coach Stuart Laborde described the game as amazing and intense as both starting pitchers combined for 26 strikeouts and three hits.
“If you were looking for fireworks, you didn’t get them,” Laborde said. “But, if you wanted to see some pitchers battle, that was a pitcher’s dual all the way. The two girls were just throwing the ball like it was their last game.”
Ainslie Willis got the starting nod for Oakdale and went all seven innings. She allowed two hits, walked three, and struck out 15.
Neither team could break through offensively until the top of the seventh inning. After a strikeout to lead off the frame, Chloe Bradley ripped a triple down the right field line.
Laborde said, “For Chloe, the only four-year senior, to go up there and get the triple, I couldn’t have written it any better.”
Kinslee Monk then flew out for the second out of the inning, but, on the play, Bradley tagged up at third base and headed for home to score the game’s only run.
Laborde described it as gutsy base running. He said, “On the play at the plate, she tagged up, and they threw a good ball. There was a little collision at home plate, but she gutted it out. We got that run, and I couldn’t be more happy that it was our senior leader to get that one run.”
Willis, then in the home half of the seventh inning, struck out the side to send her team to Sulphur.
Now, tomorrow at 2:30 p.m., the Lady Warriors will face a Montgomery team that knocked them out of the playoffs in the quarterfinal round and went on to win the state title a season ago.
“The girls are so excited,” Laborde expressed. “Who doesn’t want a rematch? Our girls couldn’t be more excited to play Montgomery. It seems like they’re in Sulphur.”
He concluded, “To have a chance to get revenge and to punch our ticket to the championship game, I don’t think the girls could ask for anything more.”