By ROBERT L. LEE

RESERVE – Thursday evening was filled with excited banter from the Hahnville dugout from all Lady Tigers, except for one, after their 18-0 win over East St. John.

The Lady Tigers’ pitcher Brittney Simmeux was speechless after she pitched a perfect no-hitter to lead Hahnville to a district win over the Lady Wildcats in four innings.

Hahnville coach Angela Beck said Simmeux has thrown no-hitters before, but never had a perfect game in which she pitched 12 batters up and 12 down.

Beck also credited the Lady Tigers’ defense for a solid game and not allowing the Lady Wildcats who connected with the ball to reach first base.

“We have a great team, they all get along great. I’ve never coached a team like this,” said Beck. “They have a great outlook on playing softball and they want to win.”

The Lady Tigers stepped up to bat in the top of the first inning and were gifted with a generous mixture of hits and walks which keep them rounding the bases and crossing home nine times.

Slapped with the threat of a nine-point deficit and the 10-run rule easily within Hahnville’s reach, the Lady Wildcats decided to switch pitchers and allow Artrena Radcliffe to try her hand from the mound.

Radcliffe helped close the inning, along with a high fly ball to left field which was caught for the third out. The Lady Wildcats got their chance at bat, but two strike outs and an out at first base spelled the end of the first inning.

“We take advantage when we can. Our offense rolled around quickly today and our defense was outstanding,” Beck continued.

“We’ve had only one or two bad games in or 14-5 record, but most were pretty solid.”

East St. John returned to the field and stepped up their defense to allow only one Hahnville runner to score from third base on a small infield hit.

The Lady Wildcats gave up only one more run in the third inning, although the dim fate for their offense continued through the bottom of the inning as three batters stepped up and all three received an out.

Although the Lady Tigers held a firm 11-0 lead, the game pressed on into the top of the fourth inning. The first half of the inning was all the Lady Tigers needed to explode into a seven-run scoring assault, filled with their routine base stealing.

With the bases loaded, Radcliffe gave up a walk for the 12th Hahnville point.

Simmeux stepped up to bat and hit the ball to deep left field, which opened the door for two more points.

Hahnville’s Jenny Chaisson followed suit for two more runs, then Lindsay Yochim drove the ball to left-center for the final 18-0 score.