Louisiana Tech head softball coach Josh Taylor has to be a happy man because the Lady Techsters have won their last three games in a row, including their first two Conference USA victories. That is only partly the reason.
Another factor causing his deep-down happiness isn’t about what his team is doing this season, but rather involves a future Lady Techster.
What Taylor is purely giddy about is what took place this past December, when Maggie Guyotte of Quitman High School agreed to sign a scholarship to play for his Lady Techsters softball team.
Guyotte put a smile on Taylor’s face big time this past Thursday with her spectacular all-around performance, where she led Quitman to a 15-0, District 1B opening thrashing of Castor by virtue of her right-handed pitching and left-handed batting.
The versatile superstar senior, who is one of the state’s premier power hitters with now 63 home runs to her credit over her 6 year career, lived up to her reputation by smashing her 5th “tater” of the year before adding a triple that opened the bottom of the fourth inning and adding a single in the same frame that drove in the final of her 6 RBI on the day. Adding to her incredible effort were the 4 innings of shutout ball she threw, during which she allowed only 3 meaningless singles and struck out 7, for her fourth win of the season without a loss.
Guyotte wasn’t the only Lady Wolverine to have a good day, which helped Quitman match their season high in runs scored and win their 6th in 7 games, raising their record to 7-3 on the year.
Sensational sophomore Brenna Lamkin continued her burst into the limelight by stroking her 4th home run of the year, scoring twice, and knocking in four runs, while Zoee Williams hit a pair of doubles and scored a run. Hallie Kate Pullig got two hits, including a double, scored twice, and had an RBI, while Briley Bowers added a walk and a pair of singles with two runs scored. Kinsley Ponder also got two hits and drove in a run to become the 5th Lady Wolverine with at least two hits. Lily Duck walked twice, scored two runs, and knocked one in. Charleigh Newton scored and had an RBI, and Avery Watson scored a run after getting hit by a pitch.
Ruston 4 Quitman 1 (Saturday): An error, two walks, and two singles led to Ruston scoring 4 runs in the bottom of the fourth inning that overcame the run Quitman scored in the top of the same inning. The loss, which dropped QHS to 7-4 on the year and improved Ruston’s record to 7-6, overshadowed a fine effort “in the circle” by Brenna Lamkin, who gave up only two hits and shut the Class 5A school down for 5 of the 6 innings pitched. Quitman managed 6 hits on the day, including two by Anna Claire Leach in her first game back after injuring her knee earlier in the season. Also hitting singles were Hallie Kate Leach, Kinsley Ponder, Briley Bowers, and Zoee Williams, while Maggie Guyotte scored the Lady Wolverines sole run after drawing a walk.
Parkway 15 Weston 6 (Friday): The Lady Wolves dropped their first game on their new on-campus field and 4th in a row, all coming against schools in Class 4A or higher. No individual stats were available.
An old belief is that Friday the 13th is a “bad luck” day. For the Quitman and Weston High baseball teams, this past Friday was a great day. It was Thursday, the 12th, that wasn’t so good. As a result, the two neighboring Jackson Parish teams split their two games each, heading into this coming week’s contests.
Weston 3 Glenbrook 2 (Friday): Dawson Griffin smashed a double that scored Jase Borders, who had reached on his third hit of the game, and then scored what turned out to be the winning run one pitch later when Easton Borders drove him in with a single for the victory that propelled Weston to an 11-6 record and the #1 ranking in the Class B power ratings. Drew Browing, who had two hits on the day, singled and scored on Ty Henderson’s hit in the bottom of the first after Weston had spotted Glenbrook an early run. Bryce Tolar picked up the win after throwing 4.2 innings of shutout ball, where he allowed only one hit and struck out six.
Quitman 9 Winnfield 1 (Friday): The Wolverines spotted visiting Winnfield an early 1-0 lead before coming back to score in all six of their at-bats to win their 10th game of the year against 7 losses. Winnfield dropped its 7th straight game and fell to 1-16 this season, the most losses in Division III. Hudson Pullig hit a double and scored twice, while Zach Smudricks got two hits, scored a run, and knocked one in. Asher Shultz and Kace West got a hit and an RBI, and both Jayden Harts and Tucker Barnett, who added an RBI, scored two runs each. Cail King scored a run and knocked one in, and Hayden Seymore added an RBI with a sacrifice fly out. Kace West got the complete game win with a superb 13-strikeout performance, where he scattered three hits and gave up no earned runs.
Hicks 2 Weston 0 (Thursday): In what could possibly be a future Class B playoff matchup, #10 Hicks scored two runs in the bottom of the first inning to improve to 11-3 on the year in the otherwise pitchers’ duel that saw both teams go scoreless the rest of the way. Remy Kennard and Ty Henderson got the only two hits by Weston batters.
North DeSoto 16 Quitman 0 (Thursday): The 3rd-ranked Division II team had their way, exploding for 12 runs in the first inning and limiting Quitman to a Conner Moak leadoff single in the contest, called after two innings per the “mercy rule”.
UPCOMING GAMES
District games take center stage as the local baseball and softball teams play 6 district contests out of the 8 games scheduled this Monday and Tuesday. Both Weston squads play two games each to lead the area in games played, while JHHS has two softball games scheduled, and JHHS and Quitman each have a baseball game. Games that show only one record for the team are non-district games.
| DATE | HOME | VISITOR | B/S | TIME |
| Monday | Weston (2-8) | Glenbrook (10-3) | Softball | 4:00 pm |
| Monday | Claiborne Christian (6-7) | Weston (11-6) | Baseball | 4:00 pm |
| Monday | JHHS (2-8, 0-1) | Arcadia (0-0, 0-0) | Softball | 5:00 pm |
| Monday | Arcadia (0-2, 0-0) | JHHS (5-2, 0-0) | Baseball | 5:00 pm |
| Tuesday | JHHS (2-8, 0-1) | Lincoln Prep (0-4, 0-0) | Softball | 3:30 pm |
| Tuesday | Weston (2-8, 0-0) | Castor (7-4, 0-1) | Softball | 4:00 pm |
| Tuesday | Weston (11-6, 1-0) | PCA (4-9, 0-1) | Baseball | 5:00 pm |
| Tuesday | Castor (4-2, 0-1) | Quitman (10-7, 1-0) | Softball | 5:00 pm |