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By John Sudsbury
Allstate Sugar Bowl
Becky Lambert has been selected as the Allstate Sugar Bowl’s Greater New Orleans Girls’ Prep Coach of the Year after leading Archbishop Hannan to its third straight softball division championship.
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee, sponsored by the Allstate Sugar Bowl, selects annual award winners in a variety of categories. It also selects Amateur Athletes of the Month and each year’s Hall of Fame class.
Overall, 27 individuals and four teams will be honored for their 2021-22 achievements at the Greater New Orleans Sports Hall of Fame Awards Banquet on July 30.
Lambert coached Hannan, the No. 2 seed, to the LHSAA Division II Softball Championship with a 3-0 victory over top-seeded Haynes Academy. After 10-0 and 9-4 wins in the first two rounds, the Hawks held off No. 3 Vandebilt Catholic, 3-2, in the semifinals. Junior pitcher Tristyn Baugh returned to the mound for the championship game and tossed a no-hitter to lead the Hawks to the title.
The Hawks (19-11) scored all of their runs in the third inning to upend the Yellowjackets (26-6) in a rematch of last year’s state championship game, also won by Hannan.
“We lost five players from last year’s team and we battled some key injuries, which we’ve done well to avoid in past years,” Lambert said. “These kids stayed together, they practiced hard, they got along. I give a lot of credit to them. They believed in themselves all year long. I thought the season may run out before everything came together, but the last couple of weeks, they gelled and everyone settled in. Then the playoffs hit, and this team flourishes in the playoffs.”
The Greater New Orleans Sports Awards Committee has recognized outstanding high school coaches for the New Orleans area since 1962. This is the first time that Lambert has earned the honor, though her team was recognized as the Outstanding Girls’ Prep Team for New Orleans after winning the state championship in 2011.