PONCHATOULA, La. — The same team that eliminated the Concordia Parish 9-year-old All-Stars from the district tournament did so again, this time in semifinal round of the state tournament.

The Monroe 9-year-old All-Stars rallied from an early 2-0 deficit to defeat the Concordia 9s 11-2 Sunday afternoon to advance to the finals against another team from the same district as those two teams — Sterlington.

“We had just two hits in the game. Monroe’s pitching staff is just solid. They have quality pitchers,” Concordia 9s head coach Buddy Brown said. “We have some good pitchers. They have some good starting pitchers. When they go to No. 2, 3 and 4 in the rotation, there’s not much drop-off.”

The Concordia 9s saw the game — and its season — turn around in the bottom of the third inning. That’s when Monroe started its comeback and ended up scoring 11 runs in its final two innings. The only two hits by the Concordia 9s were from Peyton Fort and Caleb Smith. Each of them had a single.

“In the bottom of the third, it just fell apart. We couldn’t get anyone out. We couldn’t do anything,” Brown said. “I’m very proud of the kids. They never gave up. They kept playing hard, even when we were down.”

Out of 16 teams that played in this state tournament, the Concordia 9s finished in a tie for third place — something Brown said pleased him.

“It was a successful tournament knowing the size of some of the teams still in the tournament,” Brown said.

Concordia 12s 12, Ruston 7

HAUGHTON, La. — Lee Lancaster and Cameron King each hit two-run home runs as the Concordia Parish 12-year-old All-Stars defeated Ruston Sunday afternoon at the state tournament.

King’s home run came in the first inning and Lee Lancaster’s homer came in the sixth inning, which helped give the Concordia 12s some much-needed breathing room.

“I’m very pleased with the performance. The team made only three errors and had 17 total hits,” Concordia 12s head coach Jamie Lancaster said. “That’s what we rely on is our bats and they came through today. The bats warmed back up on us.”

Reid Richard was the winning pitcher. With the win, the Concordia 12s will take on the winner of the Shreveport/Bossier City game today at 8 p.m.

Ferriday Gators 11, JPRD 10

(8 innings)

PONCHATOULA, La. — Just when it appeared that the Ferriday Gators’ season was about to come to an end Sunday morning at the Louisiana Dixie Debs 18-and-under State Tournament, they would have a major response.

Ferriday went into the sixth inning trailing the Jefferson Parish Recreation Department 9-3 before going on an improbable comeback, which ended with the Gators winning 11-10 in eight innings.

“There were four home runs hit — three by them, one by us. But we had a lot of triples and doubles,” Ferriday Gators head coach Rut Horne said. “We had 15 hits. They had 15 hits.”

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Ginny Daggett brought in Savanna Johnston and Ellen Bairnsfather with a double and Daggett scored on a Mollie Devening single. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Jody Duncan and Lay Lay Griffin each singled before Johnston singled and ended up on third base on a throwing error. Duncan and Griffin both scored to make it a 9-8 game. Then KeKe Collins laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Johnston to send the game into extra innings tied at 9-9.

In the top of the 10th, the lead-off hitter for JPRD hit a fly ball that traveled 260 feet for a solo home run to give it a 10-9 lead. Daggett then retired the next three batters to keep it a one-run game.

In the bottom of the 11th, Mollie Devening doubled and Peyton Monticello singled. Both runners advanced on an error to put them in scoring position. Kimble Devening was intentionally walked to load the bases as JPRD was hoping for a double play. Instead, Duncan singled to right field to bring in Mollie Devening with the game-tying run to tie the game at 10-10. Mallory Harrigill hit a hard ground ball to second base and Duncan was tagged out going to second, but the second baseball dropped the ball out of her glove, allowing Monticello to score the game-winning run.

Daggett ended up being the winning pitcher as she allowed four runs in the final two innings. She also went 2-for-4 with a double, a home run and five runs batted in. Mollie Devening was 3-for-4 with a pair of doubles and Johnston was 2-for-4 with a double and a triple.

Winnsboro 14, Ferriday Gators 0

(5 innings)

PONCHATOULA, La. — Unfortunately for the Ferriday Gators, their season eventually did come to an end as they were shut out by Winnsboro Sunday afternoon at the state tournament.

Ellen Bairnsfather was charged with the loss in this game, which lasted just five innings. Ferriday was held to just four hits — all singles. Savanna Johnston, Ginny Daggett, Jody Duncan and Lay Lay Griffin each went 1-for-2.

Ferriday ended up going 2-2 at the state tournament.

“We have 10 players. No one is 18 (years old). Everyone is eligible to play next year,” Horne said. “Hopefully we’ll come back next year and do it again.”