Falling short

VILLE PLATTE -- A loss hurts no matter if it is by 10 runs or one run.
But, probably the worse type of loss is one in which the effort put into coming back from a large deficit falls just short of completion.
Such was the case for the Ville Platte High Bulldogs Monday afternoon. After falling behind 8-1 in the first four innings of play, Ville Platte rallied for seven runs in its last at-bat, only to suffer a tough 9-8 loss to the Bolton Bears.
“I am proud of the way the players fought their way back,” stated Ville Platte head coach Ski Doucet. “We just didn’t make enough plays to get the win. But, the guys showed a lot of heart and desire out there today. That is something that we can carry for the rest of the season.”
With the loss, the Bulldogs fell to 2-4 on the year.
Ville Platte drew first blood in the game. Starting pitcher Dagen Mitchell struck out two of the first three Bear batters he faced, retiring Bolton in order in the top of the first.
Mitchell, the lead off batter in the bottom half of the inning drew a walk and moved to second base when Noah Doucet was hit by the pitch. Mitchell then stole third base and scored on a wild pitch. The Bulldogs stranded Doucet at third making the score 1-0 early on in the contest.
Bolton answered in the top of the second inning. The first two batters reached on a single and a base on balls. After Mitchell got the third batter in the inning to strike out, Jake Shever singled scoring a run.
Mitchell hit the next two batters, loading the bases with one out. Deshod Dixon struck out and Caleb Holloway walked to score the second run of the inning. Another walk gave Bolton the 3-1 lead. Mitchell worked his way out of the jam by getting Kevin Chambers to ground out to first base.
Neither team was able to add to their score until the top of the fourth inning. Back-to-back walks forced Mitchell from the game, as Brendan Doucet took the ball in relief.
Doucet induced a 1-3 ground ball, putting runners at second and third with one out. However, three base hits in a row and two more walks gave the Bears five more runs to extend the lead to 8-2.
Ville Platte would put up two more in the bottom of the fifth inning. Jerez Edwards induced a lead off walk to start the inning off. After a Chad Johnson strike out, Mitchell would also walk, putting runners at first and second with one out.
Doucet followed that with a solid double into the outfield, scoring both Edwards and Mitchell. On the attempt to get to third base, Doucet was put out by Bolton’s leftfielder. The Bulldogs could not put anymore runs across, but had cut the lead to 8-3.
Bolton’s final run came in the top of the seventh inning. Ville Platte came to the plate in the bottom half of the inning needing six runs to tie it up and send it into extra innings.
The Bear pitching staff began to lose control and gave the Bulldogs some life. The first three batters to the plate for Ville Platte drew walks, loading the bases.
After two strikeouts, the Bulldog batters walked twice more. A base hit by Taylen Thomas added to the run total, but Ville Platte could not get the final runs across to produce some extra baseball.