Ville Platte Super 10’s fall in regional finals; turn in great season

The Ville Platte Dixie Youth Super 10 All-Stars put forth a valiant effort this past week in Morgan City at the North Regional tournament, but just could not muster the offense to finish, as they fell in the final game to West Carroll and took home the runner-up title.
It was not the turn out that head coach John Pitre wanted for his Super 10 All-Stars, but Pitre would not have traded his time with his players for anything in the world.
“This was my first time as an all-star coach and all I have to say is that I would coach this group any day, any time, any place,” stated an emphatic Pitre. “This crew of players are fantastic. They worked so hard this season and showed so much improvement. This team is not the same team that started two months ago; they are so much better.”
Ville Platte started the tournament looking unbeatable in the first three games, out producing their opponents in the box score by a 24-10 margin.
However, the bats went cold for the Evangeline Parish all-stars, as Ville Platte could only muster two runs in their final two contests.
“We really did not hit anything solid in the last two games, especially in the final game,” said Pitre. “If we did hit hard, it went right into their glove. I think part of our downfall was the failure to execute the small ball game plan when we needed it. That would be the only negative I would take away from this tournament.”
Ville Platte opened the tournament with big 10-4 win over the team that would eventually knock them out, West Carroll.
In that game, West Carroll took an early lead by scoring a single run in the bottom of the second innings. But, the Ville Platte bats came alive in the top of the third, as the boys in blue damaged the score board with nine runs of their own.
West Carroll made a mini run at Ville Platte in the bottom of the third, plating three more runs. Ville Plate closed out the game with a solo run in the top of the sixth to take the win.
In game two, Ville Platte face the host team Morgan City. The St. Mary parish squad put together a solid game before Ville Platte squeezed past them for 6-4 win.
Ville Platte opened the scoring first, knocking in three runs in the bottom of the first. Morgan City answered with four runs in the top of the second to close the gap.
Ville Platte did not flinch, tacking on two more runs in the third and one more run in the fourth to finish out the scoring and take the hard fought victory.
It was no contest in Ville Platte’s third game, as the local ball club exploded for a 10-0 win over Minden.
The game started off slow, as both teams could not get going offensively early on in the contest. Neither Ville Platte or Minden put any runs across the plate in the first two innings.
Ville Platte got things going in the top of the third, scoring five runs. They resumed the torrid offensive pace in the fourth and fifth innings, adding two and three runs respectively to hold on for the shutout win.
If Ville Platte cruised to wins in the first three games with bats afire, the final two games were total opposite outcomes.
Ville Platte came into game four as the only undefeated team in the tourney and needed a win over West Carroll, a team they had beaten once already, to seal a spot in the championship game.
But, it was a West Carroll team with payback on their mind that would prevail, as they came away with a 9-2 win over Ville Platte.
Ville Platte’s only two runs were solo runs in the bottom of the first and fourth innings.
West Carroll reversed the tables on Ville Platte in the second meeting, jumping out to a 4-1 lead after the first inning. The north Louisiana team added two more runs in the fourth, a single run in the fifth and a duo of runs in the sixth to close out the game.
With the loss, there were three teams with one loss each (Ville Platte, West Carroll and Ruston) prompting a coin toss to determine who would sit out and wait for the other two teams to do battle.
Unfortunately, Ville Platte did not get the bye and had to face West Carroll once more.
In that game, West Carroll took a 1-0 lead in after one inning of play. Ville Platte threatened in later innings, but could not put together any type of sustainable offense.
With that, West Carroll took advantage and plated six runs in the top of the sixth to seal the win and knock Ville Platte out of the tournament.
No matter what the outcome, Pitre points to two important factors in the success of his team this season, which included runner-up spots in all three tournaments Ville Platte participated in.
“One thing is for sure, our parents were amazing,” said Pitre emphatically. “They let the coaches do their job and trusted us with their sons. I wish all parents would support coaches like ours did. Also, my assistant coaches, Jason Deshotel and Brent Duplechin were outstanding in the way they handled the players both on and off the field. Without men like these two, Dixie Youth would not be as outstanding an organization as it is today.”