By Jake McCoy

Many folks will call it an instant classic no matter who you’re rooting for and that’s exactly what it was last Thursday, May 7, as the Grand Lake Hornets traveled to northern Allen Parish to take on the Oakdale Warriors in quarterfinal action. The Hornets came in with a lot of confidence after beating a very tough Oak Grove team the week before and of course they were looking to punch their ticket to Sulphur for the first time since 2022.

The Hornets got on the board first after Jon Verzwyvelt hit a line drive to right field to score Zac Manuel to take the early 1-0 lead.

Oakdale would tie the game up in the bottom of the fourth. However the Hornets would reclaim the lead in the top of the sixth after Ryder Shields scored from third on a passed ball, the Warriors then tied the game up in the bottom, half of the inning to make it 2-2.

The Hornets came close to taking the lead in the top of the seventh, but the Warriors shut the door as they also could not get anything going offensively in the bottom of the end, which would send the game to extra innings.

The first batter grounded out. However, the second better earned a free pass to first base. The following batter hit a double play in the top half of the inning. The Warriors quickly got on first base after the leadoff batter was hit by a pitch, but the second batter laid down a sacrifice bunt to move the runner over to second. The next batter was walked on ball four, the following batter was intentionally walked to load the bases in attempt to pull a double play unfortunately after a few pitches the Oakdale Warriors would win on a walkoff ball four ending the Hornets season.

Kasen Quinn was 1-3, Jon Verzwyvelt was 1-3 with an RBI, and Tayte Picou was 1-4.

Congratulations to the Grand Lake Hornets on a fantastic season!