LCCP records first playoff win, Tors upset Covington
After a decade of existence, the Lake Charles College Prep baseball program made history last week with its first postseason win.
The 17th-ranked Trailblazers swept No. 16 Tara in a best-of-three series on the road in the bi-district round of the Select Division II playoffs. They run-ruled the Trojans 19-2 in four innings on Friday and 17-2 in three innings on Saturday. LCCP (15-18) had made the playoffs four other times in its history with the last coming in 2022. It almost upset No. 7 Berwick in 2021 before losing 5-3.
The Trailblazers will travel to Lafayette this week to take on No. 1 Teurlings Catholic in a best-of-three regional playoff series starting on Thursday.
Senior shortstop Christian Burgos had a productive weekend, going 5-for-7 with six RBIs as the Trailblazers reached double-digit hits in both games. He had a pair of doubles on Friday and a two-run home run Saturday.
Sophomore Dylan Vital pitched a no-hitter in LCCP's win Saturday with six strikeouts and three walks.
Road Warrior Tors
For a second consecutive season, the Sulphur Tors went on the road in the first round and went home winners.
The No. 20 Tors swept No. 13 Covington in a best-of-three Non-select Division I bi-district playoff series with a pair of dramatic wins.
Sulphur opened the series Friday with a 4-2, eight-inning win using small ball. Slade Shove-Knox put down a bunt and reached base on an error and moved into scoring position on Brodie Depriest's sacrifice bunt. Carter Wilson scored the go-ahead the go-ahead run on a bunt by Braydon Stacy and Tajhai Smith's single to right field brought home Shove-Knox.
Jackson Beddoe capped the Tors' big weekend with the hit of the series Saturday. He hit a walk-off two run home run to beat the Lions 7-5 and send the Tors to the regional round.
The Tors' bullpen played a big role in the sweep. Wilson pitched two scoreless relief innings to pick up the win on the mound Friday, and Grayson Seaford pitched four scoreless innings Saturday. Sulphur (18-18) will travel to No. 4 Haughton for a best-of-three series starting on Friday.
Near perfect
Jennings senior Jenna Morvant almost pitched a perfect game Thursday as she led No. 9 Jennings to a 9-0 win over No. 24 A.J. Ellender in the first round of the Non-select Division II softball playoffs.
Morvant pitched a no-hitter with nine strikeouts and missed a perfect game by one batter. She walked the third batter she faced but retired the next 18 in a row and closed the game with a strikeout.
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Club World Cup 2025: 5 non-European teams that could upset giants
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Advantage Australia: Lions sweat on Wallabies rejects
And just like that, there are more Australian players in the British & Irish Lions squad than Welshmen. Canberra born-and-raised prop Finlay Bealham, now plying his trade in Ireland, has been drafted into Andy Farrell's touring squad for the upcoming showpiece series in Australia following the withdrawal of Scotland front-rower Zander Fagerson with a calf injury. Hailing from the same esteemed ACT high school as former Wallabies Matt Giteau and twins Anthony and Saia Faingaa, among others, Bealham has made 51 Test appearances for Ireland after leaving Australia searching for opportunities as a teenager some 15 years ago. Despite being selected for the national schoolboys' team and representing Australia A side, Bealham was not offered a place in the Brumbies academy and instead ventured to Ireland to start his professional career. Tighthead prop Zander Fagerson has been ruled out of the #Lions2025 Tour with a calf injury, with Ireland and Connacht's Finlay Bealham called up to replace him ⬇️ — British & Irish Lions (@lionsofficial) June 9, 2025 However the 33-year-old is now viewed by the Brumbies, Bealham is certainly well respected by Wallabies mentor Joe Schmidt, who presented the tighthead his first Test cap as Ireland coach in 2016. "It's tough on Zander to miss out so close to the tour," Farrell said. "But now Finlay gets an opportunity to come in and add to the group. "This is unfortunately part and parcel of the game so we always have to be prepared for that." The veteran's call-up, and Fagerson's scratching, not only adds to the growing concerns about the Lions' tighthead-prop situation, but will also increase the angst among fans not happy about the increasing number of non-British and Irish born players in Farrell's squad. The ginger-bearded Bealham is the eighth southern hemisphere-born player in the 38-man group, joining fellow Australians Mack Hansen and Sione Tuipulotu, Kiwis Bundee Aki, Jamison Gibson-Park and James Lowe and South Africans, Pierre Schoeman and Duhan van der Merwe, who all qualify on residency grounds. And less than two years after the Red Dragon sent Eddie Jones' Wallabies packing from the 2023 World Cup with a record 40-6 group-stage mauling, the ledger now stands at Australian players three, Wales two in the Lions squad. Skipper Jac Morgan and scrumhalf Tomos Williams are the only two Welshmen among the Lions - their lowest representation in a British & Irish Lions squad in the post-war era. The so-called "foreign invasion" has apparently not gone down well in the northern hemisphere, with the likes of legendary five-times Lions tourist John McBride among those said to be "bothered". But of greater concern for the Lions, perhaps, should be the diminishing front-row stocks. Fellow Irish prop Tadhg Furlong is also nursing a calf injury, while England's Will Stuart will only link up with the squad on Saturday after playing for Bath in the English Premiership final. The rest of the players in the Lions squad who are not still involved in club duties have assembled in Dublin and were to travel to Portugal on Tuesday for a six-day training camp.
