Ville Platte Dixie Majors’ bats explode for sub-district title

There is no doubt the Ville Platte Dixie Majors are on a mission. All one has to do is to look at how they subdued their opponents on their way to the sub-district title this past weekend in Leesville. The Major all-stars outscored the four teams played 55-6.
“Our goal is to represent Louisiana in Laurel, Mississippi in August at the World Series,” stated head coach Delaney Fontenot. “This past weekend was a big step toward that goal. The players came out and played extremely well, especially offensively. They are responding very well to what we are trying to get across to them. There were a few kinks, like miscommunication on cutoffs. But, that is to be expected because the players did not all play on the same team during the regular season.”
Ville Platte opened up play against a tough Vernon National team. The all-stars’ moderate offensive production was offset by great pitching and defense, as they eased passed Vernon 7-2.
Ville Platte moved out on top to start the game scoring three runs in the first inning to take a 3-1 lead. Vernon National cut the lead down to one in the second inning, plating a solo run.
Ville Platte expanded their lead to 5-2 after putting up two more runs in the third inning. After a scoreless fourth inning, the boys in blue tacked two runs in the fifth inning to finish out the scoring. Ville Platte pitching and defense held Vernon National scoreless in their final four at bats of the game.
A mild offensive output in game one was followed by a floodgate of runs for Ville Platte in game two, as the all- stars cruised past Mamou 18-1. The game started slow for the Ville Platte bats, as they could not put a run across in the first inning.
However, the all-stars more than made up for that in the next two innings. Ville Platte put up 10 runs in the second inning and eight runs in the third inning to wrap up their run-rule win. Mamou’s lone run came in the second inning.
Ville Platte faced off against another inter-parish opponent in game three, as they tangled with Pine Prairie. The bats remained smoking hot in this contest, as Ville Platte exploded for double digit runs in a 15-0 win over their cross-parish challengers.
This time Ville Platte did not let the grass grow under their feet on offense to start the game as they put up five big runs in the first inning. The all-stars continued to add to their huge offensive numbers by plating nine more runs in the second inning and adding a single run in the third.
The bats seemed to cool off for Ville Platte in the first part of game four against Oakdale. But, things heated up again for the all-stars, as they put up huge, crooked numbers two of the last three innings in a 15-3 win over Oakdale.
In the first part of the game, Oakdale jumped out to a 1-0 after one inning of play and held on to that lead until the third inning. Ville Platte jumped started the offense in the third inning, scoring eight runs. Oakdale tried to crawl back into the game in the fourth inning by tacking on two more runs, but Ville Platte put the game away in the fifth inning by scoring seven runs.
Ville Platte is competing in the district tournament in Deridder as of press time. The Gazette will have the full results next week.
Even with the huge wins in sub-district, Fontenot feels there are still areas to work on before the team can attain their goal.
“Mentally, we need to be a little sharper,” added Fontenot. “I think sometimes we get caught watching the game and we are out of position on plays. We also need to clean things up on defense. Overall, I think we are on the right track.”