Looking Back - August 6, 1995

FARMERVILLE- By jumping to a sizeable early lead and making clutch defensive plays down the stretch, the Ville Platte Dixie Youth 12-year-old All-Stars were able to secure its record 10th State championship with an 8-6 victory over Union Parish here Thursday night.
The victory gave Ville Platte a triple-play sweep across the state. VP went undefeated in both the sub-district and district tournaments and the team won all five of its games at the State competition. With the State championship victory, Ville Platte will now represent Louisiana at the 1995 Dixie Youth National World Series, to be held in Lexington, S.C. Team Louisiana’s first game will be against the representatives of the host state, South Carolina, at 5 p.m. local time on Monday, August 14.
In Thursday’s win, Ville Platte led by six runs on two separate occasions, 6-0 and 8-2 before Union Parish made things interesting by crossing the plate four times in the top of the fifth to cut the VP lead to 8-6. With Ville Platte hanging on to the two-run lead, Union Parish loaded the bases with two out in the fifth, but VP relief pitcher Colby LaFleur retired the Union Parish batter on a ground ball to second baseman Duke Johnson. In the top of the sixth, Union Parish’s Noel Kozik singled to center but was thrown out at second base trying to stretch the hit into a double. LaFleur then struck out the next two batters, Jacob McLeod and Mitch Tucker, to nail down the victory and give Ville Platte its 10th Dixie Youth State title.
“Our kids were mentally tough each day during the tournament, through the rain and the sun that we’ve had here,” said Ville Platte head coach Dr. Chuck Aswell. “Physically, we were very tired going into tonight’s game, and our pitchers’ arms were getting tired, but we pulled through with our mental toughness and our desire.”
“Tonight (Thursday night), we had a good general team effort. Some people who had not carried us in previous games helped us this game. Usually, the top of our lineup has carried us. They were not as effective in this game, but the rest of our team helped us out.”
Ville Platte scored the first six runs of the game. In the bottom of the second, Chuck Soileau led off with a double off the wall in left-field fence, and Colby LaFleur promptly singled to left, advancing Soileau to third. Eric Fontenot then drove in Soileau with a groundball out to second, and Jason Soileau chopped a single up the middle that scored LaFleur. Leter, Byron Doucet hit a one-out single up the middle to score Jason Soileau, and Justin Guillory and Doucet each scored on passed balls to give VP a 5-0 advantage after two innings of play. VP made it 6-0 in the third when, with the bases loaded, Jobby Prudhomme was hit by a pitch, bringing home another run.
After a two-out two-run single in the top of the fourth by Union Parish’s Andy Jones that cut the Ville Platte lead to 6-2, VP neutralized the run production in the bottom half of the fourth with two of its own. Chuck Soileau lined an RBI single off the shortstop’s glove and scored on the same play when the center fielder’s throw to try and get Soileau going to third went past the third baseman.
Union Parish scored four times in the fifth to narrow the margin to 8-6, but LaFleur, pitching in relief of VP starter Eric Fontenot, pitched out of the bases-loaded jam that inning and retired the three batters he faced in the sixth.
Now, it’s on to South Carolina for Ville Platte, who has not won the national World Series championship in 10 years.
“Our chances to win will probably be above-average,” Aswell said. “We have solid pitching and defense, but our defense needs to be stronger and our hitting needs to improve at least 50 percent for us to have a chance. The team from South Carolina should be a real tough one. They’ve had a long winning tradition of winning the World Series. It’s a tough bracket that we’ve drawn, but anything can happen in the big dance.”
In the 40-year history of the Louisiana Dixie Youth State tournament, Ville Platte has accounted for a quarter of the State titles. Its first state title was back in 1969 and followed that one up with another title the following year, 1970. VP has also captured State titles in 1976, 1977, 1979, 1985, 1988, 1991, 1993, and now its 10th in 1995.