BHS to make long trip to play North Webster

The Berwick Lady Panthers will be taking a long road trip to face North Webster in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs Tuesday.
But Berwick coach Lloyd Burchfield is confident that anything his No. 21 seed team sees against No. 12 seed North Webster will be no different than anything they have seen this year.
The Lady Panthers, who play an annual brutal schedule, have faced an impressive list of quality softball teams in Louisiana.
While their record may have suffered, the Lady Panthers, who had to replace several seniors with experience from a year ago, were exposed to a high-level of play in hopes of preparing them for the playoffs.
“We know our won/loss record and our power ranking is not going to be very good,” Berwick coach Lloyd Burchfield said this morning of the effects of playing a brutal schedule. “Hopefully we just fly under the radar. People see that and they think ‘well, Berwick’s not very good.’”
While the Lady Panthers had to replace senior leadership and experience from a year ago, Burchfield did quite a bit of shuffling with his lineup this season to try to find the right combination.
“It was just like a chess game trying to figure out who was going to perform best,” he said, noting that he thinks he has found the right combination.
Additionally, Burchfield has several players who can play that aren’t starting, so it gives him some options.
Berwick returns two pitchers with extensive varsity experience from a year ago in juniors Rennen DeLatte and Shelby Bergeron. Sophomore Sydney Jambois has seen action this season, including in an 8-7 win against E.D. White and a win against Brusly.
In the outfield, the Lady Panthers feature Shannon Theriot, a verbal commitment to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
North Webster enters Tuesday’s contest with a 19-5 overall mark and a 3-1 record in District 1-3A play.
Burchfield said he has gotten some information on North Webster and said their pitcher throws in the mid-50s and tries to get batters to go after high pitches.
“I guarantee you she’s not going to be any better than what we’ve seen because we’ve seen some good folks,” he said.
Offensively, North Websters has some slap hitters in the lineup.
Berwick’s trip for the contest actually will begin today when the squad takes the trip to Shreveport this afternoon.
From there, the squad will work out at Captain Shreve High School Tuesday before taking the roughly hour drive to play at Randy McMahen Park in Springhill. The park is on the Arkansas-Louisiana line.
Admission will be $7.