Crowley Ladies cruise past Eunice

EUNICE – The Crowley Ladies exploded for 12 hits and quickly disposed of the Eunice Lady Bobcats, 16-1, Thursday to close out the first round of District 4-4A play unbeaten.
The victory left the Ladies with the outright district lead at 6-0.
“I emphasized going in that we needed to finish (the first round) strong and not let one slip by us and the girls really responded,” said CHS coach Zach Pulling.
The Ladies set the tempo from the opening inning when they pushed across a pair of runs. They added four more in the second frame.
“We came out and put the ball in play and forced them (Eunice) into some situations where they eventually started to make some mistakes,” said Pulling. “That’s the key for us: to come out and not be flat. In all the games that we’ve won this year, we’ve hit the ball early.”
Eunice held Crowley scoreless in the third inning but the Ladies got hot again in the next two frames and pushed across 10 more runs. Maddie LeBouef had a triple and a single during the two-inning barrage. Kristen Bonin doubled and Bailee Villejoin and Chadlyn Yokum each had singles.
The leader, however, was La’Shonda Delco, who was 3-for-4 with a double and two RBI.
“She has really stepped up this year,” said Pulling of  Delco, a sophomore outfielder. “Hitting is her strong suit but we just didn’t know how she would handle the pressure stepping up from jayvee to varsity. But she’s handled it well and she’s been really consistent for us since she cracked the starting lineup.”
LeBouef and Yokum added two hits and two RBI each while Bonin had a triple, a double and one RBI. Villejoin, Melaina Dought and Katelyn Killmer each had one hit and one RBI and Taylor Grabowski logged an RBI on a groundout.
“Maddie has been in a slump the last couple of weeks so it was good to see her kind of come out today. The stick is kind of coming alive for her so that was good to see,” said Pulling of LeBouef. “And Kristen, too. She’s been slow to get going, but she’s really revved it up these last couple of games in district.
Killmer picked up the victory in the circle after limiting Eunice to just one run, on two hits.
“Katelyn really did a good job of working ahead in the count,” said Pulling. “That allows you to play with the hitter a little bit and keep them off balance and she was able to do that and do it well.”