For the ninth straight season, the Notre Dame Lady Pios will be playing in the LHSAA State Softball tournament in Sulphur.
The No. 5 seeded Lady Pios will take on No. 1 Calvary Baptist in a Select Division III semifinal contest on Friday at 2:30 p.m. on Field 15 at North Frasch Park Softball Complex.
Calvary enters the contest with a record of 33-2 and the Lady Eagles are ranked No. 4 nationally in the USA Today High School Super 25 Polls.
The Lady Eagles won 15 straight games to begin the season before dropping their first contest of the year to Bentonville, Ark., in a tournament on March 9.
Another streak followed for the Lady Eagles as they won 16 straight after that before dropping a 5-3 decision at St.Thomas More in their regular season finale on April 5.
“Calvary is every bit of what they are advertised,” said Serie. “They are the No. 1 team in our division and probably the No. 1 team overall in the entire state in my opinion.
“They have experience, they are coming off a state championship and they’ve won some before, so they are who we know they are.”
Calvary is the defending Select Division III state champion and they won back-to-back titles in Division IV prior to that.
They are led by senior shortstop and Arkansas signee Ramsey Walker and senior second baseman D.J. Lynch, who has committed to Northwestern State University.
The Cavaliers also have a rising star in sophomore pitcher Kynzee Anderson, who struck out 17 batters and tossed a no-hit shutout in a 7-0 quarterfinal victory over Patrick Taylor High School last week.
Needless to say, the Lady Pios have a stiff challenge in front of them.
“Like I tell the girls all the time, the best team doesn’t always win, it’s the better team that day,” said Serie. “They can be the best team eight out of ten times, but we just have to be the better team on Friday. We just need to win one out of one.”
The winner of Friday’s semifinal contest will advance to the title game on Saturday at 3 p.m. on Field 17.
No. 2 St. Charles and No. 3 Houma Christian will be vying for the other spot in the finals Friday when they play on Field 16, also at 2:30 p.m.