Trojans shock the 1A World

The heavily favored Ouachita Christian Eagles came to Ville Platte with an impressive 23-9 overall record. They were also carrying the Class 1A top seed, which is almost a sure ride into the state tournament each year. However, someone forgot to tell the Eagles that No. 9 seed, Sacred Heart, was coming to win and were playing as one team. They were going to do exactly what they needed to win.
The Eagles were stunned as the Trojans handed them a 7-5 loss in a game the OCHS boys were really never in.
“The kids came into this game very confident,” said Sacred Heart Head Coach Cody Vidrine. “They felt like we had a chance and were going to win.”
The Trojans let it be known in the first inning. Evan Mire singled and that brought Keaton Tate to the plate in the bottom of the first inning. Tate exposed the Eagles’ weakness, in which Vidrine was really changing his ways. He gave Tate the bunt signal and the Eagles struggled to field it and he beat it out for a hit. Wesley Fontenot followed and did the exact same thing. With the bases loaded, Andy Lafleur came to the plate. He walked on four pitches and the home team was up 1-0. Moments later, Ellis Parrot hit into a fielders choice and Tate came screaming across the plate, making it a 2-0 contest. On the same play, the Eagles threw the ball around and it allowed Fontenot to come home also.
“I had been told they struggled to field the bunt, especially from the pitching position,” Vidrine commented. “We worked on it all week.”
The bunting attack completely changed the way the Trojans had been finding success. They had been averaging almost 14 hits a game and now went to laying it down.
Philip Vidrine did a great job of getting the Eagles to ground and pop out. Vidrine kept the Eagles scoreless until the top of the fourth inning.
The SHHS offense added to their lead in the bottom of the third inning. Ellis Parrot doubled and later scored on a single from Caleb Soileau.
OCHS cracked the score board in the top of the fourth inning and then added a pair of runs in the top of the fifth. All of a sudden, the score was 4-3.
“Overall I still felt fine when they came close,” Vidrine. “You knew a team like that was not going to just lay back and let you take the win. Andy (Lafleur) came in and did a great job for us. It all worked out.”
Brandon Hudspeth led off the bottom of the fifth inning with an infield single and Soileau bunted into an error. This put runners on the corners for the Trojans. After the Eagles changed their pitcher, the Trojans fired off and pushed two runs home. Garret Manuel laid down a great sacrifice bunt to score Hudspeth. Moments later, Evan Mire was at the plate and he mimicked the same squeeze play. That allowed Soileau to score making it a 6-3 contest.
Wesley Fontenot singled and scored in the bottom of the sixth inning. Hudspeth delivered a double that pushed the insurance run home.
OCHS tried valiantly to fight back. They scored a pair of runs in the top of the seventh inning. Andy Lafleur fanned the final batter of the game and sent the Trojans to the Class 1A State Tournament.
The Trojans will head to Sulphur to battle the St. John Eagles. The game takes place Friday at 2 p.m. at McMurry Park. The Eagles are 25-5 on the season. The survived a scare in the first round with a 4-3 win over St. Martins. In the second round, they got by Ascension Episcopal 6-2 and then defeated Ascension Catholic 6-1 to make it to the state tournament.
The Trojans are headed to the state tournament for the first time since 2004. They were in Class 2A then, and fell to Episcopal of Baton Rouge in the semi-finals. If the Trojans can defeat the fourth seeded Eagles, they would play for the 1A title Saturday at 3 p.m.
“At this point all the teams are good,” Vidrine remarked. “Any team can beat any team. Every one has to show up ready to play. I think our boys will be ready to go and hopefully have that good excitement feeling. It is going to be a great environment and it is a good experience.”