Catholic High of New Iberia needed just the opening 10 minutes of Tuesday’s regional contest with Loranger to prove its supremacy.
Catholic High starter Ben Suit struck out the side in the first, and lead-off hitter Ridge Gonsolin cracked a stand-up triple on the first pitch he saw in the bottom of the frame to trigger a two-run inning that laid the foundation for a 10-0 victory. The game was called in the fifth due to the 10-run rule.
“They came out ready to play and they are a dang good team,” Loranger head coach Jason Helmstetter said.
“We did not make the routine plays that we normally make and we did not do anything special on top of that to swing the momentum,” Helmstetter added. “They had momentum in the first and they never relinquished it.”
The season also came to an end Tuesday for Maurepas. The third-seeded Wolves (20-5) dropped a heartbreaking 3-2 road loss at 19th-seed Houma Christian (14-12).
Wolves head coach Anthony Gregoire said the game was tied at 2-2 for most of the game until the bottom of the seventh inning. Maurepas pitchers hit two batters in a row, and Houma Christian loaded the bases with a bunt. Maurepas was called for a balk, bringing in the game-winning run.
"It's definitely tough for an umpire to make a call like that in a game like that," Gregoire said. "Both teams made the plays they needed to, and for an umpire to come in and make a call like that is tough."
CLASS 3A
Catholic-NI 10, Loranger 0
NEW IBERIA—Loranger’s defense committed four errors and its offense netted just four base hits. Moreover, the Wolves got away from their offensive gameplan of forcing Catholic’s defense to make difficult plays. Loranger hit just six ground balls and was coaxed into six strikeouts and eight fly outs. It ws especially evident in the first four innings as the Wolves hit just three balls on the ground — a single, a ground out and an error.
“I told them that the odds are in our favor if we put it on the ground, but we did not do that for some reason or another and they decided to go do it their way and not stick to the game plan,” Helmstetter said.
Suit took one-hitter into the fifth inning before Loranger threatened with a pair of two-out singles and a walk. But Suit got a flyout from Taylor Abdalla to thwart the rally and end the game.
“We just needed to be more disciplined and we were not at the plate,” Helmstetter said.
The Panthers scored two runs in both the first and the second against Wolves starter Shea Edwards. Gonsolin scored on a two-out single in the first and Jed Viator’s two-out, two-run single in the second made it 4-0.
Meanwhile, Loranger reached base just once through the first three innings. They put two on with one out in the fourth, but Suit struck out Tyler Kendrick and forced Jake Artigue to fly out.
“They did not have that overpowering guy, but he did a good job of getting ahead of us and pitching his game and we just allowed him to do that,” Helmstetter said.
Catholic put it away with a six-run fourth inning, fueled by three Loranger errors, and highlighted by Patrick Neustrom’s bases-clearing 3-run double.
The seventh-seeded Panthers (21-10) will play either Parkview Baptist or West Feliciana in the quarterfinals.
Carlos I Bedia wrote on Apr 30, 2008 11:37 PM:
I got this from iberianet.com, this is the local writer writes about the game. Again I thought you gave a good account. Motivated to win BY NEAL MCCLELLAND The Daily Iberian
Published/Last Modified on Wednesday, April 30, 2008
Ben Suit had a little extra motivation Tuesday.
He was given some information from a Web site that attributed a quote from Loranger coach Jason Helmstretter that Catholic High pitchers were average.
Keeping that tidbit in the back of his mind, Suit went out and struck out the first three batters he faced and retired nine of the first 10 in the lineup, finishing with a four hit shut out as Catholic High beat Loranger 10-0 to advance to the quarterfinals of the Class 3A playoffs. The game was shortened to five innings because of the mercy rule.
I was just really intense, said Suit. I got a little extra motivation from the coach off their Web.... check the story on iberianet.com.
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