Lady Spartans’ quick start overwelms Rayne in Coach “I” tourney

East Ascension took advantage of two errors and a pass ball to put up two runs in the first inning and never looked back on way to a 8-1 victory over Rayne in the Coach “I” Tournament at Lady Spartan Park Saturday morning.

Chelsea LeBlanc struckout 12 in five innings of work giving up one run on four hits and one walk.

“We took the lead early but wasn’t satisfied with that,” East Ascension head coach Amy Pitre said. “We wanted more so we played every inning like it was a 0-0 ballgame. We took that mentality and wanted to put runs on the board every inning.

“Chelsea is more a strikeout pitcher and she was sitting them down pretty handily,” Pitre said. “In the later innings we worked more on the things we needed to work on. We experiment with movement on pitches with a big lead.”

East Ascension (5-3) went 3-1 over the weekend opening with a 2-0 loss to Brusly before defeating Morgan City 7-0 and Fontainebleau 2-0.

“It is early,” Pitre said. “ I was hoping we would be better at this point but every game we have lose has been close and our pitching has been strong.”

Evan Babin drew a walk off Mariel Meche to open the game before Jade St. Pierre reached on an error. Rachel LeCoq reached on another error to plate a run before a pass ball put the Lady Spartans ahead 2-0.

LeBlanc struckout the first two batters she faced before Kelsey Mollier legged a triple but LeBlanc struck out Meche to end the inning.

East Ascension posted four runs in the second inning. Shelby Young reached on an error and advanced on a pass ball before Brooke Courville lined over first to play a run. Courville stole second and St. Pierre lined a one-out single to right to plate another. LeCoq lined pass short before Tiffany Robinson’s liner to center crossed a run. Olivia Maher’s liner off Kaitlin Thibodeaux’s glove at third loaded the bases and Brandi Cedotal drew a two-out walk to score a run.

LeBlanc struckout the side swinging in the third. St. Pierre drew a two-out walk in the bottom half before LeCoq’s ground rule double but Robinson lined out into the left field gap.

LeBlanc lined a one-out standup double in the fourth inning after striking out three in the third but pinch running Jordan Guidry was left stranded.

Mariel Meche hit a one-out triple to the centerfield wall in the fourth and scored on a pass ball to put Rayne on the board. 

Babin lined a one-out single off reliever Haley Habetz in the fifth inning and stole second before St. Pierre drew a walk. LeCoq lined a double to plate two runs reflecting the final tally.