Making history

TIOGA – To embrace history gives a person a sense of pride and respect.
To make history brings that to heights unimaginably more.
So, one can understand the overwhelming feeling of accomplishment that flowed out of the Ville Platte T-Ball All-Stars after they placed third this past weekend at the Dixie Youth State Tournament, becoming the first Dixie Youth T-Ball team in Ville Platte history to make it to the World Series.
“All of the coaches, including myself, are super proud of what this team has accomplished this season,” stated Ville Platte head coach David LaHaye. “The stated goal at the beginning of the season was to reach the World Series, and we have achieved that goal. Our team has come a long way since the very first practice. I can see their progress every week. They are slowly but surly picking up on the nuances of the game. Now we just have to continue putting that together at the World Series.”
Ville Platte will now travel to Center, Texas, for the Dixie Youth Region III World Series that begins on July 20. The tournament is scheduled to last until July 23. The All-Stars will participate in a number of pre-tournament events, including a skills challenge, movie night and a dinner.
Ville Platte began their journey to the World Series by going a perfect 3-0 in pool play. Included in those games were wins over Blanchard, Sabine, and Vernon Central.
From there, the All-Stars were placed in the championship bracket and continued on their quest for the state title. Game one in the bracket seemed a little deceiving if you just looked at the score. A 16-15 win over Alexandria seemed to be a barn-burner, but Ville Platte was able to secure the victory without having to come to bat in the final inning.
The All-Stars got off to a tremendous start in that game, holding Alexandria scoreless in the top of the first and then responding accordingly on offense by putting up seven runs.
Alexandria did manage to put a run up on the board in the top of the second. The All-Stars retaliated by getting two runs across the plate to take a 9-1 advantage after two innings of play.
Ville Platte was out scored in the third and fourth innings, but only by one run margins in each instance. Alexandria did attempt to mount a comeback in the top of the fifth, plating five runs. Nevertheless, the All-Stars crushed any hope the Rapides Parish team had by shutting down the surge.
Game two of bracket play was not what Ville Platte had in mind when visions of a championship trophy danced in their heads.
Instead the Pineville All-Stars showed all of the offensive power, as they downed the All-Stars 18-3 to send Ville Platte to the loser’s side of the bracket.
The All-Stars did hold out a glimmer of hope against Pineville, owning a 3-2 lead after one inning of play. But, Pineville produced seven runs in the second, six runs in the third and three runs in the fourth to secure the win.
A familiar foe awaited Ville Platte in the next bracket game, as district rival Vernon Central appeared on the field of play, hoping to end the All-Star’s chances of getting to the next level. Be that as it may, Ville Platte was not going to be denied the opportunity of making history as they rolled past Vernon Central 18-12.
The All-Stars made quick use of the bats in at the onset of the game, garnering a 6-2 lead after the first inning. Vernon Central picked up a run on Ville Platte in the second inning, out pacing the All-Stars 3-2.
Despite the attempt to make a game of it, Vernon Central could not overcome the fighting spirit of the boys in blue, as Ville Platte blanked their opponent 3-0 in the third inning and out maneuvered Vernon Central for a 7-4 advantage in the fourth inning.
The Vernon All-Stars did pick up three final runs in the fifth inning, but it was not enough to overcome Ville Platte and their quest to move on to their ultimate pre-season goal.
With the World Series bid in hand, Ville Platte had one more task to accomplish; bring home the state title. That meant they must win the next three games in a row. Unfortunately, the All-Stars could not finish what they started as they fell to Pineville for a second time in a row by a score of 19-6.