All-Southwest La. Big Schools: Sam Houston sweeps top awards
Cole Flanagan and Kailyn Mire were indispensable in their respective championship runs and are the MVPs.
Baseball
Tommy John surgery forced him to miss his junior season, but Flanagan flourished once he returned to the diamond.
Pitching and playing center field, Flanagan led Sam Houston to its first state championship since 2001.
Flanagan's command of multiple pitches helped the Louisiana-Lafayette signee go 7-2 with a 2.10 earned run average in 53 1/3 innings with 61 strikeouts and 16 walks.
The marquee performance of his career came in the second game of a best-of-three semifinal series. He pitched a complete game two-hitter with five strikeouts and a walk to lead the Broncos to a 1-0 win over archrival Barbe and sweep the series.
'He has been a big leader as far as positivity goes,' Sam Houston head coach Chad Hebert said. 'He has been a big part of the lineup and showed a ton of composure throwing the way he did. He was able to limit the damage (in the postseason).
'At Barbe, he gave up two hits and no runs. Every time he had to make a pitch, he did and we made some plays around them.'
Flanagan batted .381 with 30 runs, seven doubles, two triples, a pair of home runs and 30 RBIs. In the deciding third game of the Non-select Division I championship series, Flanagan went 3-for-4 and scored the tying run as the Broncos clinched the title with a 4-2 win.
Softball
While a sophomore, Mire showed poise all season and rarely left the circle, pitching all but two outs for the state champion Broncos. The right-hander tossed 180 innings with 110 strikeouts and 66 walks. She went 30-2 with a 1.63 ERA.
She went 4-0 in the postseason and allowed three earned runs in 27 innings.
'(Mire) has been phenomenal this entire season,' Domingue said. 'I think she gets overlooked a lot because she's
not the strikeout pitcher. She's not throwing 65 miles an hour, but she has literally put this team on her shoulders and carried us.
'She changes speeds and forces weak contact. She might not strike you out every time, but she trusts the defense to make the plays.'
Mire kept opponents baffled with a wide range of pitches and speeds. She pitched 10 shutouts and three no-hitters along with two one-hitters and six two-hitters. Mire showed her durability with 15 outings lasting seven or more innings.
Not known for power hitting, Mire (.325 avg.) came up clutch in the semifinals when she hit a two-run home run, her first of the season, to send the game into extra innings.
Coaches
Sam Houston's Chad Hebert and Beth Domingue are the Big School Coaches of the Year.
Domingue led Sam Houston to a 30-2 record, including a 28-game win streak to end the season, and the program's first state championship since 2015. The softball team owns six state championships, and Domingue has been a part of all of them as either a player (2000) or head coach (2011, '12, '13, '15, '25).
Hebert had long sought to lead the Broncos to a state championship. In his nine seasons at the helm, the Broncos reached the state tournament seven times, losing in extra innings twice in the semifinals, plus a loss to Barbe in the finals in 2019.
He guided the Broncos to a 37-8 record. As the No. 11 seed, they twice rallied to sweep defending state champion West Monroe on the road in the regional round and took out 12-time state champ Barbe in the semifinals in two pitchers' duels, 2-1 and 1-0. And they still had enough magic left over for the finals to beat No. 1 Live Oak in three games decided by two or fewer runs.
Big Schools
Baseball
Pos. Player, School Cl. Statistics
P Owen Galley, Sam Houston So. 8-2, 1.25 ERA, 51 Ks
P Cole Flanagan, Sam Houston Sr. 7-2, 2.10 ERA, 61 Ks
P Lawton Littleton, Barbe So. 10-2, 0.76 ERA, 111 Ks
P Jairus Miller, Barbe Sr. 13-1, 0.41 ERA, 126 Ks
C Hayden Lebleu, Iowa Sr. .341 avg., 6 HR, 40 RBIs
INF Lucas Alexander, Iowa Sr. .390 avg., 5 HR, 29 RBIs
INF Christian Wold, S. Beauregard Sr. .358 avg.,/6-1, 1.20 ERA
INF Noah Fontenot, S. Beauregard Sr. .293 avg./9-2, 2.87 ERA
INF Kash Martin, Westlake Sr. .381 avg., 2 HR, 23 RBIs
OF Justin Lartigue, LC College Prep Sr. .394 avg., 2HR, 37 RBIs
OF Tyler Dartez, Iowa Sr. 5-4, 44Ks, 1.91 ERA/.340 avg.
OF Brody Anderson, Westlake So. .493 avg., 37 RBIs/ 6-2, 2.01 ERA
UT Slade Shove-Knox, Sulphur Sr. 582/3 IP, 3-4, 44Ks, 29bb, 3.37 ERA
UT Presley Courville, Barbe Sr. .492 avg., 3 doubles, 13 RBIs
UT Bryce Cunningham, Leesville Sr. .375 avg., 21 RBIs/392/3 IP, 42 Ks
UT Trace Moreaux, St. Louis Catholic Jr. 5-3, 2.18 ERA, 54 Ks
UT Konnor Boudreaux, St. Louis Catholic Jr. .350 avg., 22 RBIs/261/3 IP, 2 Svs
MVP — Cole Flanagan, Sam Houston
COACH OF THE YEAR — Chad Hebert, Sam Houston
Softball
Pos. Player, School Cl. Statistics
P Alya Stollsteimer, Iowa Sr. 19-9, 3.81 ERA
P Kailyn Mire, Sam Houston So. 30-2, 1.63 ERA, 110 Ks
P Mattie Fullington, St. Louis Catholic Fr. 8-1, 1.83 ERA, 139 Ks
P Claire Mellard, Sulphur Sr. 7-7, 3.72 ERA, 91 Ks
P Laila Roberson, DeRidder So. 12-8, 5.44 ERA, 142 Ks
C Layla Landry, Sam Houston So. .500 avg., 14 HR, 57 RBIs
INF Emma Venable, Jennings Sr. .522 avg., 8 HR, 34 RBIs
INF Pressy White, Sulphur Sr. .520 avg.,18 HR, 47 RBIs/2.58 ERA, 92 Ks
INF Carolina Eidson, Sam Houston Sr. .495 avg., 11 HR, 42 RBIs
INF Elaina Newman, Westlake Jr. .580 avg., 42 RBIs, 54 runs
OF Alivia Singletary, Iowa Jr. .426 avg., 5 HR, 30 RBIs
OF Morgan Henry, Iowa Fr. .352 avg., 3 HR, 35 RBIs
OF Camryn Jackson, S. Beauregard So. .365 avg., 6 HR, 32 RBIs
UT Addi Daigle, S. Beauregard Fr. .506 avg., 5 HR, 33 RBIs
UT Aubrey Portie, Sam Houston Jr. .494 avg., 14 HR, 49 RBIs
UT Kylie Price, Jennings Sr. .433 avg., 32 RBIs, 34 runs
UT Charlie Kyle, Sulphur So. .450 avg., 5 HR, 25 RBIs
UT Ella Kay, Barbe So. .518 avg., 25 RBIs, 34 runs
MVP — Kailyn Mire, Sam Houston
COACH OF THE YEAR — Beth Domingue, Sam Houston
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