North DeSoto baseball punches its ticket to the state finals with victory over Lutcher

STONEWALLL, LA (KTAL/KMSS) — On Saturday, North DeSoto baseball faced Lutcher in game three of the state semifinal round of the playoffs.

After a tough win on Friday night, the Griffins looked to continue that dominance. North DeSoto fell to a two-run deficit early in the game, going down in the second inning off of an RBI single and steal at home.

“We knew two runs is not gonna win the ball game,” senior Luke Delafield said. “We didn’t know it was gonna be a one-run ball game, but we knew the winning team was gonna have to score more than two runs. They got up early and we just kept saying dugout, guys, just be calm. Just be calm.”

It wasn’t until the sixth inning, with two outs and two runners on that Delafield stepped up to the plate. The senior rolled one deep to left, allowing enough time for Hudson Tootham to touch home.

Pitcher Bryant LaCour was up next.

Hitting it to the third baseman, who got caught up in the ball, allowing a runner to score before overthrowing first, allowing Delafield to touch home as well, giving the Griffins the lead.

“Time to get on your horse. It’s do or die right here, fixing to run like my hair’s on fire. I took off and my initial reaction when I slid through home was just thinking about Rocky Balboa, my favorite movie, he just holds his hands up in the air so I kind of just did that when I knew we went up,” Delafield said. “I knew Bryant LaCour was gonna go out there and I knew he was gonna execute.”

The Bulldogs had one last shot in the top of the seventh, but North DeSoto made quick work of the team to end the game.

“They understand that, hey we can do it,” head coach Bo Odom said. “We’ve done it before, they can do it. They never veered from the program, they never veered from what we’re trying to do. We still just fought through it and fought through it.”

Next week North DeSoto will face Brusly or West Ouachita for the state title.