Sacred Heart breezes through to quarterfinals

It seems a pattern has emerged this playoff season for the Sacred Heart Trojan baseball team. The Trojans take their time on offense and lull the opponent to sleep, while the pitching and defense shut teams down. Then, wham, the Sacred Heart bats find that weakness in opposing pitching and hit their opponent like a ton of bricks. The next thing the opposing team knows, they have been run-ruled.
This scenario took place once again on Wednesday afternoon, as the Trojans decimated the Crescent City Christian Pioneers 11-0 in a class 1A regional playoff game in Metarie. Sacred Heart now advances to the quarterfinals to face off against district rival St. Ed’s. The game is slated to be played Saturday at 3 p.m. at Aswell-Cappell field in Ville Platte.
Offensively, the Trojans had a hard time getting going in the early part of the ball game against the Pioneers. In the top of the first, Sacred Heart managed to get two separate runners on first base, but could not move those runners into scoring position. Evan Mire walked to start the inning. Keaton Tate followed, striking out for the first out of the inning.
With the third batter, Brandon Hudspeth, at the plate, Mire was thrown out as he hesitated between first and second on a ball that barely got away from the catcher. Hudspeth worked the count to get the second walk of the inning. Jacob L. Lafleur hit a fly ball to left field to end the inning.
Starting pitcher Caleb Soileau took to the hill for the Trojans in the bottom of the first, looking to set an early tone. After an error allowed the first Pioneer batter to reach base, Soileau promptly picked off the runner on a tremendous move. Soileau retired the next two batters on a fly ball and a ground out right back at him.
Sacred Heart managed to put a runner in scoring position in the top of the second inning. With one out, Jacob A. Lafleur reached base on an single. Lafleur stole second with Josh LaHaye at the plate. LaHaye struck out for the second out of the inning bringing Phillip Vidrine to the plate. Vidrine hit a hard line drive that was stabbed by the third baseman for the final out in the inning.
Crescent City came into the bottom of the second looking to get their offense started. However, Soileau remained on top of his game as he was able to retire the side in order. Two great defensive plays by Nick LaHaye and Hudspeth gave Soileau some much wanted defense. At the end of two complete innings the score remained 0-0.
Needing to get going on offense, the Trojans went into the top of the third hoping to produce some runs. As most teams have found out this season, it is very hard to keep Sacred Heart off of the board for very long. The Trojans plated three runs, moving ahead of Crescent City 3-0. Garrick Fontenot led off the inning with an infield single. Dylan Scully replaced Fontenot as a courtesy runner and stole second base to move into scoring position. Mire was then retired on a strike out for the first out of the inning.
Tate came to the plate with one out and grounded to second base to record the second out. Hudspeth then drew the two out walk to put runners at first and second, bringing up Jacob L. Lafleur. Lafleur, like he has done all season, singled to score Scully. Soileau came to the plate wanting to help his own cause. He did just that doubling in Hudspeth and Lafleur. Jacob A. Lafleur walked and Josh LaHaye grounded to second to end the inning.
Soileau took to the hill in the bottom of the third knowing that the Trojan offense was on track. With that in mind, Soileau proceeded to shut down Crescent City once again. Only one batter was able to reach base in the inning, getting to second base. However, the Trojans put on a perfect defensive play to pick off the runner and retire the side.
With two outs in the top of the fourth, the Sacred Heart offense showed their resiliency, as they tacked on two more runs. Three consecutive hits from Mire, Tate and Hudspeth, along with some timely base running aided in those runs crossing the plate. With that, the Trojans now had a 5-0 lead over the Pioneers.
After blanking Crescent City in the bottom of the fourth, Sacred Heart continued to carry the momentum into the top of the fifth. The Trojans padded their lead by plating three more runs in the inning. Jacob A. Lafleur, Vidrine, and Scully all scored for Sacred Heart. Mire had the big hit of the inning, collecting two runs batted in on a two out single.
Soileau continued his domination of the Pioneers in the bottom of the fifth, with a little help from his defense. Soileau allowed the lead off runner to reach base on a walk. He then induced the next batter to fly out to Mire in centerfield. The very next batter punched the ball toward Nick LaHaye at shortstop, who then turned the perfect 6-4-3 double play along with Vidrine and Hudspeth to end the inning.
Sacred Heart was not done offensively as they came to bat in the top of the sixth. The Trojans batted around in the inning, scoring three more runs to go up 11-0. Sacred Heart collected hits from Tate, Hudspeth and Soileau to help push the Trojan remaining runs across. Head Coach Cody Vidrine even broke out the double-delayed steal to push a run in.
As the bottom of the sixth came, coach Vidrine decided to go with Phillip Vidrine on the mound to save Soileau for the next round and to get his ace pitcher a little work before the next game. Vidrine did not disappoint. He maintained the Trojan command of the Pioneer offense. Vidrine set Crescent City down in order to preserve the run-rule win.
Soileau picked up the win for Sacred Heart, throwing five complete innings. Soileau allowed zero runs on two hits, while striking out zero and walking one. Vidrine threw one inning of relief, giving up zero runs on zero hits and struck out one.
At the plate, several Trojans had multiple hits in the game. Mire, Tate, Hudspeth, Soileau, Jacob A. Lafleur and Fontenot all ended the game with two hits apiece. Plating multiple runs batted in were Mire, Hudspeth and Soileau.