Getting the job done: Cooper’s four hits, RBI double leads Broncos to win
Warren Arceneaux
SULPHUR — Kaylee Cooper’s fourth hit of the game was the biggest, a sixth-inning double that scored the go-ahead run for Sam Houston Friday in a 7-4 District 3-5A win over Sulphur.
Cooper’s hit capped a three-run inning and gave the Broncos a 5-4 lead.
Maci Baldwin walked and Anika Biswell was hit by a pitch to lead off the sixth for Sam Houston (21-4, 9-1). They scored on an outfield error to tie the score at 4-4. Cooper’s double down the left-field line scored Mary Baldwin to give the Broncos the lead for good.
Cooper, the leadoff hitter, set the pace for the Broncos with hits in her first four at-bats.
“I was just trying to do my job,” she said. “On the last one I just wanted to get that runner home. We have good hitters all through the lineup.”
Sam Houston added a pair of insurance runs in the seventh inning on RBIs by Maci Baldwin and Destini Wold.
Sulphur (7-13, 4-5) scored four runs in the bottom of the third inning. Braylee Richard singled to score Aubrey Thomas and Cyndi Reed, who had singles to lead off the inning. A Kayden Koonce single scored Bailey Chaisson and Richard to give the Tors a 4-2 lead.
Broncos pitcher Alexis Dibbley allowed two hits and no runs over the final four innings.
“She pounded the zone better today,” Sam Houston head coach Beth Domingue said of Dibbley. “We had been having too many walks but she has been pitching with more confidence lately and only had two today. We can live with that.”
Sam Houston scored single runs on errors in the first and third innings to take a 2-0 lead. Brylie Fontenot and Mari Baldwin each had a pair of hits. Cyndi Reed had two hits for Sulphur.
The Broncos have won nine consecutive games, outscoring opponents 104-18 during the streak. Sulphur had won two of its last three.
Sam Houston’s Kaylee Cooper beats the throw for a bunt single in the first inning as Tors first baseman Lindsey Hudson makes the catch during a District 3-5A game Thursday at Frasch Park in Sulphur. Cooper finished with four hits and drove in the winning run for the Broncos.