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Berwick head coach Lloyd Burchfield hugs former players in a ceremony held after the Lady Panthers loss to E.D. White in the District 9-3A softball championship game. Burchfield who has led the Berwick program since the 1991 season, will retire at the conclusion of this school year. (The Daily Review/Geoff Stoute)

Burchfield to retire at season's end

By GEOFF STOUTE, gstoute@daily-review.com

Berwick High School Coach Lloyd Burchfield has announced he will retire from both his teaching and softball coaching position at the end of this school year.
The longtime Berwick head coach, who has been at Berwick since 1990 and has coached the softball team since 1991, said he told Berwick Principal Buffy Fegenbush recently that it was time for him to step down.
“I had a great 25 years,” he said during a gathering held in his honor following Berwick’s loss in the District 9-3A title game to E.D. White Tuesday. “I told Dr. Fegenbush I just thought it was time for me to go and enjoy the rest of my life a little bit, because when you do this, when you do it right, you put a lot of things on backburner, so I’m looking forward to doing some other things with my time.”
However, he said, “I’ll always be a Berwick Panther.”
Burchfield will retire from a program in which he has led to the playoff every year during his tenure, including four quarterfinal appearances, six semifinal trips, one state runner-up in 2001 and two state championships in 1999 and 2003, respectively.
He was named Class 3A Louisiana State Coach of the Year in 1999 and 2003 and was a 2010 Louisiana Softball Coaches Association Hall of Fame inductee, according to Berwick’s school website.
Recently, Burchfield celebrated another milestone as during the Catholic High-New Iberia tournament, he won his 500th game on March 20, a 14-3 victory against Highland Baptist.
“I was proud of that,” he said later. “It means you’ve done it a long time and you’ve coached good players and they’ve been a part of that.”
His win total now stands at 502 and he estimated his losses were in the 200s.
During Tuesday’s ceremony, Fegenbush called him “forever the best coach Berwick High has ever had for softball.”
During his time at Berwick, Burchfield also served some time as athletic director, a position he resigned four years ago.

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