Lady Jays grab first district win
By Tom Dodge
The St. Edmund Lady Jays scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and rallied to a 4-1 win over False River Academy on Wednesday.
It was the first District 6-1A win for the Lady Jays, who improved to 14-9-1 on the season and 1-2 in district play. False River fell to 8-6-6 overall and 0-2 in district.
Leah Andrus picked up the win as she struck out five and limited the Lady Gators to just one hit and one run on the afternoon.
“Our girls haven’t given up all year,” St. Eds head coach Louise Johnson said. “They didn’t get discouraged when they were down.
“Maybe we can turn the season around on something like this.”
After trailing for the entire game, the Lady Jays surge began when Brittany Fontenot advanced on an error and Mollie Brown reached on a fielder’s choice.
Paige Guillory ripped a RBI double over second base to tie the game and then Leah Andrus followed with a sacrifice RBI to push Brown across for a 2-1 advantage.
Caroline Aguillard drew a walk and then Ashley Lafleur hit a double down the third base line to add two insurance runs to the Lady Jay margin.
False River scored in the top of the second inning when Emily Allen doubled and Brooke Miller hit a sacrifice RBI for a 1-0 advantage.
The Lady Jays threatened in the bottom of the fourth inning when Fontenot reached on an error, Brown drew a walk and Guillory singled to load the bases. But St. Ed’s failed to score as the Lady Gator defense stiffened for the final out of the inning.
Taylor Richard walked in the bottom of the fifth stanza, but was left stranded as the Lady Jays were still held scoreless going into the decisive sixth inning.
“We had some opportunities in the earlier innings, we just couldn’t get it done,” Johnson said. “It was great to finally see them get it done.”
After False River scored in the second inning, the Lady Jays’ defense and pitcher Andrus kept the next 15 batters off base.
“It would all right with me if we would score earlier in the game and play defense the rest of the way,” Johnson said. “Leah did an outstanding job to continue to battle after they scored that first run and the defense did well behind her.”
St. Eds entertains Catholic High of Pointe Coupee 1 p.m. Tuesday for Senior Day. The Lady Jays close out district competition at St. Joseph’s (April 2) and at False River (April 8).
“We need to pick up a couple of wins in the next round and hope the teams beat each other,” Johnson said of the Lady Jays’ chances to capture the District 6-1A title after close losses to St. Joe’s and Catholic-PC earlier in the district season.