SULPHUR — Port Barre capitalized on its lone scoring opportunity to edge Kinder 1-0 Friday in a Class 2A semifinal game at the state softball tournament.

Blaire Young singled to left to lead off the bottom of the fifth inning, then stole second and third bases before scoring on a wild pitch that hit the front of the plate and bounced over the catcher’s head to the backstop, allowing Young to score.

Port Barre (23-5) pitcher Samantha Daniels limited the Yellow Jackets (28-6) to two hits. Kinder’s best scoring chance came in the fourth inning when pitcher Bri Fontenot tripled to the right-field fence with one out in the fourth.

Daniels escaped the jam with a pop-up and ground ball to end the inning. She retired the last 11 batters she faced and struck out six with no walks.

“It was a bad day for our bats to go cold,” Kinder head coach Haley McCall Landry said. “We had only been shut out once all year. We told the girls it would take one or two runs to win.

“Luck wasn’t on our side today. We score that run in every other game. Today just wasn’t our day.”

Fontenot, a freshman, threw a three-hitter and struck out seven. She allowed one run in four playoff games. The Yellow Jackets had one senior.

“We told them to look around because we will be back,” Landry said. “And next time we’ll be veterans. This was a great group. They were record-setters, winning the most games in school history. We’re proud of them.”

Halli Shuff had Kinder’s other hit, a two-out single in the third inning. She stole second but Daniels got a strikeout to end the inning.

Kinder last reached the state tournament in 2019. The win was the seventh straight for Port Barre, which reached the championship game for the first time since 2002.