Moving forward

RAGLEY -- Rainy weather forced the Dixie Youth 8U District 7 Coach Pitch Tournament to end two days later than expected, but it did not dampen the play of the Ville Platte All-Stars as they took home the runner-up trophy and secured their spot in the state tournament that begins on July 4.
Ville Platte will travel to Ruston on Independence Day for the opening pool play game of the state tournament. The All-Stars will face the District 4 fourth place team at 7:30 p.m. They will play two more pool games on July 5 and will begin bracket play the next day.
In the district tournament, Ville Platte made their presence know from game one as they sailed past inter-parish rival Pine Prairie 13-5.
The All-Stars turned around the next day and beat Oberlin 27-1 to start the tournament 2-0. In that game, Ville Platte scored seven runs in three of the four innings played.
Pool game number three saw the All-Stars play stellar defense and keep the bats alive in a 13-0 shut out of Vernon National. Ville Platte pushed past Vernon 3-0 after one inning of play and 9-0 after two innings in the four inning contest.
The final pool game pitted Ville Platte against another parish rival with Ville Platte rolling past Mamou 9-0. The All-Stars did most of their damage in the first inning, opening up a 6-0 lead over Mamou. Ville Platte scored their final three runs in the fourth inning.
The All-Stars looked to keep their unbeaten streak alive in their first bracket game against Dequincy. Not only did Ville Platte do that, but they did it in a run-rule four inning affair as they motored past Dequincy 14-4.
The All-Stars went up 3-0 after the first inning and secured four more runs in the second inning to take a seven run lead. Dequincy notched their four runs in the third inning. However, Ville Platte was able to plate seven runs in the fourth inning to ice the game and push the All-Stars even farther into the winner’s bracket.
Unfortunately, the five game win streak came to an end in the second bracket game as Ville Platte fell to a very tough Oakdale squad 12-2. The All-Stars actually managed to jump out on top to begin the contest, scoring their two runs in the first inning to go up 2-0.
Nevertheless, Oakdale did not waver, pushing home seven runs in the second inning. The Allen Parish team picked up four more runs in the third and a single run in the fourth to put the game away and give Ville Platte its first loss of the tournament.
Then the rains came and forced the action to move all the way to Wednesday. Ville Platte did not miss a step even with the two day delay, as they cruised past Vernon American 9-0 to set up a re-match with Oakdale in the finals.
Needing to beat Oakdale twice, the All-Stars produced a valiant effort but just fell short in a 6-5 loss. In that game, Oakdale scored two runs a piece in the first and third innings to take a 4-0 lead.
Ville Platte picked up five runs in the fifth to go up by one, but Oakdale managed two more runs in the bottom of the inning to seal the win.