Offensive explosion

For the Ville Platte Dixie Youth Major All-Stars offense has been the weapon of choice each time they have slayed an opponent this season.
This pattern continued this past weekend, as the Majors blasted their way for 89 runs in five games, including 21 home runs, to claim the District 7 tournament title held in DeRidder.
With another championship under their belt, Ville Platte will now move on to the regional tournament to be held in Morgan City starting on July 15.
“The kids have been hitting the ball really well all season long,” stated Ville Platte head coach Delaney Fontenot. “Our players know what the approach and plan is when they get in the box. So, it makes it a lot easier to coach them. If we continue to hit the ball like we are doing now I really believe that we have a good chance of making it out of regionals and going on to state.”
Ville Platte began the district tournament with a huge offensive explosion. The boys in blue went on a home run rampage, belting six dingers in a 31-1 trouncing of Moss Bluff.
In the game Hayden Fontenot hit three of those home runs in one inning; including a two-run blast, a three-run blast and a grand slam.
Game two was more of the same from Ville Platte. The all-stars collected 14 hits, including five home runs in a 21-0 shellacking of Dequincy.
Both games to start the tournament were run-rule shortened affairs.
Game three lasted the full six innings, but it did not matter as Ville Platte still managed to produce double digit runs in a 19-4 win over intra-parish rival Pine Prairie.
In the contest Ville Platte collected 19 hits; five of those home runs. Pine Prairie did jump out to a 2-1 lead after two innings of play, but Ville Platte outscored Pine Priarie 18-2 over the next four innings.
In the winner’s bracket final, Ville Platte faced off against Vernon National. This time it was the Ville Platte pitching and defense that controlled the game, as the all-stars came away with an 8-0 win.
With that win, Ville Platte was now in the finals and only needed one more win for the title.
In the championship game, Ville Platte had to battle Vernon National for a second time. This time Vernon did not go away easily, taking a 2-1 lead through three innings of play.
Ville Platte tied the game in the fourth inning, but Vernon answered with six runs in the top of the fifth. It was up to the Ville Platte offense to answer; and answer they did. Ville Platte managed to plate six runs of their own to tie the game up again.
Ville Platte closed out the game, scoring two more runs in the sixth inning.
“It was a real wake-up call for us against Vernon,” said Fontenot. “But, I was really proud of how the players and how they handled the adversity. They did not falter and showed great resilience. We are going to need that in order to win the regional tournament.”
Even with Ville Platte’s powerful offense, Fontenot was very pleased with his pitching and defense.
“I thought the pitching and defense were solid,” commented Fontenot. “We don’t rely on one guy in the pitching department. We really have five or six go to guys that throw strikes consistently.”