SHREVEPORT -- “You beat the teams you are supposed to and go out and give it your all against the teams that are just as good as you.”
That was the sentiment given by the Ville Platte Major All-Stars head coach John Pitre after falling to West Carroll Monday night at the Dixie Youth North Regional Tournament.
The loss was the second of the tournament and dropped Ville Platte out of play, thus ending their season and a shot at the State Championship. The All-Stars finished the tournament with an overall record of 2-2.
“We had a great run,” stated Pitre. “We did the best we could and gave everything out on the field of play. We just came up a little short of our goal.”
“But, I know this, we had a great time and learned a lot of baseball over the past eight weeks,” continued Pitre. “We really got better as the season progressed. The players were disappointed after the last game, but they are resilient and will get over it quickly. I am really proud of how they performed.”
Ville Platte began play on Friday night with a huge 10-0 shutout win over North Webster. In that game, the All-Star’s pitching combination of Wade Pitre, Hayden Deshotel and Jackson Bruney held North Webster to only one hit and struck out 10.
Ville Platte struck early and often in the win, picking up three runs in the first inning. Hayden Droddy led off the bottom of the first inning with a walk and crossed the plate on a two-run home run off of the bat of Ike Perry.
Pitre walked and reached third on passed balls, only to push across the plate on a sacrifice fly by John Michael Duplechin.
Two scoreless innings would follow for the All-Stars before they struck again for five more runs in the bottom of the fourth. The two big hits in the inning came when Droddy doubled and Deshotel singled.
Landon Leblanc and Deshotel rounded out the scoring for Ville Platte in the bottom of the fifth inning.
A barn-burner of a game followed on Saturday night, as the All-Stars took a heartbreaking 2-1 loss to Mike Miley. Ville Platte’s only run of the game came in the top of the first when Pitre walked and scored on a single by Duplechin.
Mike Miley picked up a single run in the fourth inning and another solo run in the fifth inning to seal the victory and send the All-Stars into the loser’s bracket.
On Sunday, Ville Platte rebounded with a resounding 11-1 win over district rival Oakdale. The All-Stars gave up a run to their opponent in the top of the first, but came back with an explosive at bat in the bottom half of the inning, scoring four big runs.
Droddy and Perry both singled and scored, while Pitre, Duplechin and Leblanc also plated runs. The big hit in the inning was a double by Gavin Soileau.
The All-Stars blasted away for three more runs in the bottom of the second inning. Gabe Fontenot, Luke LaHaye and Bruney led off the inning with back-to-back-to-back singles, as LaHaye and Bruney both scored as well. Also scoring and picking up a hit was Perry.
Ville Platte finished the game with three more runs in the bottom of the fourth to cap off the run-rule win. Droddy and Perry would both double and score, while Pitre crossed the plate with the final run of the game.
That led to the final game for the All-Stars on Monday against West Carroll. In that contest, Ville Platte could not muster much offense as they were able to collect no hits and only four walks the entire game.
West Carroll picked up three runs in the bottom of the second and one run in the third inning to go up 4-0. They then closed out the win with a single run in the bottom of the fifth inning.
“I really would like to thank my assistant coaches Lucas Fontenot and Kevin Perry,” said Pitre. “Without them, this season would not have been as good as it was. They were not only great baseball coaches, but tremendous role models. I would also like to thank our great parents. They went above and beyond to make the experience a great one.”
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TRACEY JAGNEAUX Sports Editor