Sports

Caden Askey (7) connects with a pitch in a game against Church Point during a best-of-three playoff series held at Pine Prairie. The Panthers now play a best-of-three series at Red River in the second round. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Caden Askey (7) connects with a pitch in a game against Church Point during a best-of-three playoff series held at Pine Prairie. The Panthers now play a best-of-three series at Red River in the second round. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Moving on

News Staff
Thursday, April 25, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor PINE PRAIRIE – Most coaches at the high school level like to take their lumps in the regular season in hopes of preparing their teams for the playoffs.
Sports Headline

Sports Headline

More than grit

News Staff
Monday, April 22, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor PINE PRAIRIE – Basile athletics are usually known for their grit. Be it a grind-it-out football style or a storied wrestling program, over the years the Bearcats have made their name with toughness.
Sacred Heart flex player Jenna Veillon (6) connects with a pitch in the Lady Trojans’ 11-1 win over St. John in the second round of the Division IV Select softball playoffs. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Sacred Heart flex player Jenna Veillon (6) connects with a pitch in the Lady Trojans’ 11-1 win over St. John in the second round of the Division IV Select softball playoffs. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Geauxing for seconds

News Staff
Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor A trio of parish teams advanced to the second round of the softball playoffs and took different routes doing so. Sacred Heart and Pine Prairie each had first round byes, and Mamou had to get past Berwick in its playoff opener.
Sports Headline

Sports Headline

Sacred Heart, PPHS begin road to Sulphur on home turf

News Staff
Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL and TONY MARKS LSN Sports Editors Now that the baseball regular season is wrapped up, there’s only one thing left to focus on. That’s the road to Sulphur, where the state baseball tournament will be played in approximately three weeks beginning on May 7.
Tyler Newman and Landon Fontenot, both of Basile, are pictured as they compete in the 110m hurdles during the parish track meet held at Pine Prairie High School. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Tyler Newman and Landon Fontenot, both of Basile, are pictured as they compete in the 110m hurdles during the parish track meet held at Pine Prairie High School. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Thirty Top-3s vaults Basile to parish meet sweep

News Staff
Thursday, April 18, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor PINE PRAIRIE – Sometimes it’s just your year. For the Basile Bearcats track and field program, it was theirs as they swept the Evangeline Parish track meet in winning both the overall boys and girls parish championships.
Make no mistake about it. When the Bulldogs needed a big bucket, they relied on their two-time Parish MVP for it. Sage Papillion has been a prolific scorer for years now, but was relied on for even more leadership than he was in past years this season. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Make no mistake about it. When the Bulldogs needed a big bucket, they relied on their two-time Parish MVP for it. Sage Papillion has been a prolific scorer for years now, but was relied on for even more leadership than he was in past years this season. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Personal connections, tragedy fueled Papillion

News Staff
Monday, April 15, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor Evangeline Parish boys’ basketball MVP Sage Papillion thrives on connection. Yes, he doesn’t say much.
Sacred Heart coach Cody Jones guided his Trojans to a win over Ouachita Christian in the opening round of the playoffs and has been named the boys’ coach of the year in Evangeline Parish after igniting a positive culture in the school’s program. (Photo courtesy of Cody Jones)

Sacred Heart coach Cody Jones guided his Trojans to a win over Ouachita Christian in the opening round of the playoffs and has been named the boys’ coach of the year in Evangeline Parish after igniting a positive culture in the school’s program. (Photo courtesy of Cody Jones)

COY Jones ignited positive culture in SHS basketball

News Staff
Monday, April 15, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor A good motivator is hard to find these days. With the world changing, the voice of a good coach and mentor is all the more important. In high school sports, that leadership can be the difference between wins and losses.
Bertrand

Bertrand

Bearcat head coach accepts job at Oakdale

News Staff
Thursday, April 11, 2024
By: DARREL LEJEUNE LSN Editor Basile High School and its close-knit community were surprised last week as Coach Kevin Bertrand, the school’s athletic director and head football and softball coach, announced his departure for Oakdale High in Allen Parish next school year.
Sydney Fontenot (20) connects with a pitch in a Pine Prairie Lady Panther game against Mamou. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Sydney Fontenot (20) connects with a pitch in a Pine Prairie Lady Panther game against Mamou. (Gazette photo by Rhett Manuel)

Lady Panthers close out second consecutive unbeaten district title

News Staff
Thursday, April 11, 2024
By: RHETT MANUEL Sports Editor The Pine Prairie Lady Panthers completed a second-straight run in District 4-3A title run in an unbeaten fashion last Thursday, defeating the Port Barre Lady Devils by a 2-1 margin to extend its winning streak to 15-straight games.
Sports Headline

Sports Headline

Softball teams look toward Sulphur

News Staff
Thursday, April 11, 2024
By: TONY MARKS Editor Softball teams from Evangeline Parish now have their eyes set on reaching North Frasch Softball Complex in Sulphur. These teams learned which roads to take to get there once the brackets were released on Wednesday, April 10.
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