MOSS BLUFF – Timely hitting and solid pitching carried Sam Houston to next week’s Louisiana High School Athletic Association state softball tournament after an 11-1 win over Live Oak in the quarterfinals on Friday.

Sophomore pitcher Kailyn Mire (28-2) led the Non-select Division I No. 1 Broncos to their 26th consecutive win while pitching a two-hitter. She had four strikeouts and one walk.

After giving up nine runs in the first inning against the No. 8 Eagles (21-14) in the regular season, the only run they managed against Mire this time was on a run-down with no outs in the top of the fourth inning. Mire responded by inducing back-to-back groundouts to strand a runner on third base.

“It is the same thing she always does,” Sam Houston head coach Beth Domingue said. “She’s so much more solid than people expect, and people think, and people give her credit for.

“But she just does well at all the things, hitting spots, changing speeds, and I think she does well at moving on from one play to the next on the mound.”

Sam Houston scored nine of its 11 runs with two outs.

Sam Houston came alive offensively in the third inning with some huge two-out hits to score seven runs. Chloe Peshoff started the scoring with an RBI triple, followed by Aubrey Portie’s RBI double and another RBI triple by Layla Landry.

“I don’t know if I’ve ever seen something like that,” Domingue said. “So we can perform under pressure.

The Broncos hit their 54th and 55th home run of the season in the top of the fourth inning on back-to-back solo shots by Portie and Landry with two outs.

Sam Houston will face the winner out of No. 4 St. Amant and No. 12 East Ascension on Friday at 5 p.m. in the semifinals at North Frasch Park in Sulphur. The Gators knocked the Broncos out of the playoffs in the quarterfinals last year 9-8.

“I felt better for about 30 seconds, and then it’s like, okay, who’s next?” Domingue said after the Broncos’ quarterfinal win. “Let’s start working.

“Let them go celebrate for ten minutes, and let’s get back to work.”