SULPHUR — The Catholic High Lady Panthers had everything going their way after five innings Thursday at the LHSAA State Softball Tournament at Frasch Park.

Up 3-1 over Menard, all CHS needed was six outs and the Lady Panthers would be on to Saturday’s semifinal against No. 1 seed Calvary Baptist.

But the Lady Eagles had other plans and rallied with three runs in the bottom of the sixth to take a 4-3 lead and even though the Lady Panthers had two runners on base in the top of the seventh, they couldn’t get that key hit they needed and Catholic High fell 4-3 in the quarterfinals in Division III.

“That was the key to the game, we didn’t get the key hits when we needed them,” CHS coach Jenny Moneaux said. “Our girls came out to play and played hard all game. We just fell short.”

Compared to the other three games in Division III bracket, the CHS/Menard quarterfinal was a competitive game from the first pitch.

CHS had runners on second and third in the top of the first and couldn’t get them home.

Menard had runners in scoring position in the first three innings and couldn’t get them home.

Pitching and defense ruled on both sides ruled the early innings.

Catholic High had trouble solving Menard pitcher Olivia Johnson and the Lady Eagles couldn’t get to CHS starter Meghan Robicheaux.

“Menard’s pitcher was really phenomena,” Moneaux said. “We had way to many strikeouts. She was able to bring it all seven innings and the bottom of our lineup couldn’t make the adjustments when they needed to.”

Johnson finished with 13 strikeouts in seven innings of work.

In the top of the third, Payton Smith reached on a single and two batters later, Kylie Guillotte singled her home on a shot back up the middle for a 1-0 lead.

In the top of the fifth, Guillotte again came through with a two-RBI single that scored Smith and Robicheaux for a 3-0 lead.

Menard came back with a run in the bottom of the fifth as Adrianna Ortiz, running for Mattie Feltz, scored from first on a hit from Karlie Lyles to cut the lead to 3-1.

Then came the pivotal sixth inning where Catholic High had runners on second and third with one out, but couldn’t get that hit needed to score them.

Menard then came to bat and pushed across three runs as they were able to get a two-RBI single from Ortiz, her first time batting in the game, to take the lead 4-3.

It proved to be too much for CHS to come back from as the Lady Panthers had runners in scoring position again, the third time in the game that happened, and came up empty for a third time.

“After the game, I thanked my seniors for what they did this year,” said Moneaux. “It was important for the younger girls to come here and see what it was all about and that hard work pays off,

“To see the freshman and see their eyes when they walked through here … that’s what you want. That’s what the tournament is all about. It’s rewarding as a program because the younger players had a taste of it. Now we have something to strive for.”

Guillotte led CHS with three hits and all three RBI and Smith had two hits and scored two runs. Taylor Fowler came in the sixth inning to relieve Robicheaux and pitched an inning.

CHS finished the season with a 22-8 record, Menard improved to 17-10.