Giving it their all

LAUREL, Miss. -- It was just not meant to be for the Louisiana Major All-Stars, as they fell to North Carolina 4-3 in an elimination game Monday night at the Dixie Youth World Series.
Louisiana exited the World Series with a 1-2 overall record, after losing their opening game to the host team on Saturday 4-0 and then rebounding with an 11-1 win over Virginia on Sunday.
Team Louisiana entered the World Series with an undefeated record throughout the entire all-star season. And, with the offensive power displayed by the team, Louisiana looked to go deep into the tournament.
However, a strong pitching performance from Laurel’s Cade Mauldin and not enough production out of the offense against North Carolina, Louisiana could not find enough of the rhythm they relied on earlier in the season to make that run.
Just to show how dominate Mauldin was in the first game against Laurel, Louisiana could only manage three base runners the entire game and did not record a hit in the contest. Mauldin also recorded 11 strike outs to help keep Louisiana scoreless.
Laurel jumped out to a quick 3-0 lead over Louisiana in the first inning. Maldin lead the contest off with a solo home run. Ty Duvall struck out and Jack Parker followed up Mauldin with a solo home run of his own.
Jesse Herren doubled and reached third on a sacrifice fly. Herren then scored the third run on a wild pitch.
Laurel picked up their final run of the game on another Parker solo home run in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Things got going for Louisiana in Sunday’s loser bracket game against Virginia. In that contest, Louisiana run-ruled Virginia, scoring 11 runs on six hits and holding their opponent to only one run on four hits, as Dylan Blevins and Amarion Watson combined for six strikeouts and the win.
Louisiana took control of the game early on, plating a single run in the first inning. Hayden Fontenot doubled to lead off the inning. After Isaac Leger struck out, Blevins singled home Fontenot.
Louisiana threatened for more, as Remi Guillory walked and stole second, but Louisiana was not able to put any more runs across in that inning.
Louisiana added to their lead in the second inning by showing a lot of patience at the plate, as they put up four more runs.
Back-to-back singles from Watson and Ethan Fontenot put runners at first and second with nobody out. Gabe Courville drew a walk to load the bases.
The next two Louisiana batters struck out, but another walk issued to Bryce Deville plated a run. The next three batters, Fontenot, Leger and Blevins all drew walks to complete the scoring for Louisiana and put them on top with a commanding 5-0 lead.
The third inning was uneventful offensively for Louisiana, as they could only manage a lone runner when Aiden Brignac walked and stole second base.
Virginia did manage to score their lone run in the fourth inning, when Jack Wilson came home on a single off of the bat of Colton Dobbs.
Louisiana exploded for six runs in the bottom of that same inning. Courville struck out to lead things off. Fontenot singled, followed by Leger who reached on an error.
Blevins singled, scoring Fontenot. A series of walks issued to Guillory, Landry Lafleur and Brignac plated three more runs for Louisiana.
Virginia continued to have trouble defensively, as the Louisiana bats put pressure on their fielders. In the inning, four errors and three passed balls aided in the Louisiana scoring. With the eleventh run, Louisiana had secured the win.