Panthers earn split with Red Devils; Demons fall twice

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With the District 5-3A baseball season now under way, both the Mamou Demons and the Pine Prairie Panthers find themselves in the same spot with identical 2-2 records after a pair of league games were completed over the last few days.
The Panthers were able to pick up a big 16-4 win over Port Barre on Saturday, but unfortunately could not hold true on Tuesday, bowing to the Red Devils 8-5.
With the split, Pine Prairie moves to 12-7 on the year and will host Eunice on Tuesday.
Just down Highway 13, the Mamou Demons found themselves in a whirlwind, as the fell to the Iota Bulldogs 16-5 on the road Saturday and 13-1 at home on Monday.
Because of the two losses, Mamou is now 10-10 on the season and will travel to Crowley on Tuesday afternoon.
Here is a rundown of those games played.

Pine Prairie
vs. Port Barre
On Saturday, Pine Prairie wasted no time in collecting runs, scoring four in the top of the first inning.
Nick Ortego got the offense started with a one out single to center field. Jordan Ardoin follwed with a single of his own. The two Panther players stole the next base, putting runners at second and third.
A fly out to left field put the rally in jeopardy. However, Joel Franks, JJ Sims and Peyton Ledoux picked up back-to-back-to-back singles plating all of the Pine Prairie runs in that at bat.
After allowing Port Barre two runs in the bottom of the first, the Panthers tacked on two more runs in the top of the second with doubles from Kyler Carson and Ortego and a sacrifice fly off of the bat of Ardoin.
The Panthers held the Red Devils scoreless in the bottom of the second and proceeded to add to their lead in the top of the third by plating two more runs.
Pine Prairie finished the game with three more runs in the sixth and five more runs in the seventh. Port Barre picked up single runs in the fourth and seventh innings.

Port Barre vs.
Pine Prairie
The Panther offense struck early on again in Monday’s contest with the Red Devils. Pine Prairie gave up a solo run to Port Barre in the top of the first, but revenged that run with four runs of their own in the bottom half of the inning.
The Red Devils slowly chipped away at the Panther lead, scoring one run in the top of the second and four runs in the top of the third inning.
The Panthers cut the lead down to 6-5 in the bottom of the fifth inning, as Carson doubled and scored on a single from Ortego. But, the Red Devils iced the game in the top of the sixth by plating two more runs.

Mamou vs. Iota
Mamou got on the board first with a solo run in their first at bat of the game. Daylon Ardoin was hit by a pitch to lead things off and reached third base on a error from the Bulldog defense.
Blake Boone then drove home Ardoin on a sacrifice fly.
Iota tied the game up in the bottom of the first and pulled ahead in the bottom half of the second inning, as they exploded for seven more runs. The Bulldogs added to their lead, picking up five more runs in the bottom of the third inning.
Mamou tried to rally in the top of the fourth when they plated three runs of their own. Devin Boone drew a lead off walk and moved to second on a Gavin Pommier single.
A fielder’s choice got Boone put out at third base, but allowed Korey Dupre to reach first. A passed ball gave Pommier and Dupre a chance to move up a bag.
Pommier would score on a ground ball out off of the bat of Kayden Serie. Dupre came home for the second run on a triple by Ardoin into right field. Ardoin took home plate on a steal for the third and final run of the inning.
Iota got their final two runs in the bottom of the fourth. The Demons added their last run of the game in the top of the fifth when Blake Boone scored on a sacrifice fly off of the bat of Devin Boone.

Iota vs. Mamou
As painful the loss was on Saturday, Mamou endured a more painful loss to the same Iota team on Tuesday.
In the game, the Demons were only able to pick up one run on one hit, a double from Tucker Rougeau in the third inning plating Serie.