Kaplan advances to semifinals; plays Saturday at 1 p.m.

SULPHUR- The Kaplan Lady Pirates moved one step closer to the Class 3A championship with a 8-0 win over the Iota Lady Dogs in the quarterfinals of the of Fast Pitch 56 Tournament.
Kaplan (25-4) earned 12 hits and pitcher Abby Trahan surrendered only two hits to help the Lady Pirates advance to a semifinal matchup against No. 7 Brusly, who defeated No. 2 St. Charles.
“I think it was a good performance; Abby was composed,” said Kaplan head coach Shay Herpin. “She wasn’t getting calls earlier as far as balls and strikes and she still competed. I thought our defense came up big for us. They got hits and got into scoring position, but we played good defense to get out of the jams.”
The Lady Pirates scored two runs in the first inning after a leadoff triple by Olivia Gabor. Alexa Lege brought Gabor in after a single to put Kaplan ahead 1-0. Lindsey Schexnailder brought in the second run on a groundball that resulted in a fielder’s choice putout.
The Lady Pirates continued to cruise and scored three runs in the sixth inning, thanks to RBIs by Trahan and Kailey LeJeune. Schexnailder stole home plate on a bad throw by a Lady Dogs’ infielder.
Trahan went 3-for-4 with an RBI and Olivia Trahan led the team with two RBIs. On the mound, Trahan struck out six batters in seven innings of work.
After losing to North Vermilion in the quarterfinals last year, Herpin said his team felt pressure to advance heading into the game, but he said he believed his team responded well.
“I thought we had a lot of pressure on us coming into this,” he said. “I think we relaxed a little bit and now we’ll be relaxed for the next game. Our kids finally got the weight off our shoulders and that makes a big deal to us.”
Kaplan will face Brusly tomorrow at 1 p.m. at Frasch Park Field #18 in Sulphur.