West Ouachita puts halt to Gents' season

WEST MONROE – West Ouachita’s No. 2 seeding in the Class AAAA state playoffs apparently is well deserved.
Just ask Crowley High coach Christian Doughty, whose Gents watched the home-standing chiefs club four home runs in the first three innings and five overall in eliminating the Acadia Parish team, 13-5, in regional-round action Tuesday.
“They could flat out swing it,” said Doughty of the Chiefs, who had 15 hits on the evening. “They hit the baseball throughout the order. We fell behind early and it was very difficult for us to climb back in it.
“It was a smaller field than we are accustomed to playing in (310 feet down the lines) and they definitely take advantage of that. It was an aerial assault. They hit all three of our guys (pitchers).”
The Chiefs started their onslaught in the very first inning when Zack Watson led off the frame with a home run. Two batters later, Joseph Tassin added a solo bomb.
The Chiefs took a 3-0 advantage into the third inning before Austin Russell drove a three-run homer to left field. Jordan Antly followed with a solo shot to right field one batter later to push the lead to 7-0.
The Gents (20-11) finally got on the board in the fourth inning when Alex Ashby doubled and scored on a single by senior Mackay Mouton.
The Chiefs, however, weren’t quite finished.
They added five more runs in the fourth inning, on five hits, including a double and a triple, two errors and one walk.
The Gents tacked on their final four runs in the fifth inning thanks in part to a pair of West Ouachita errors and a two-run home run by Ashby.
Chris Crowson rounded out the Chiefs’ scoring in the bottom of the frame with a solo home run.
“They are just a very good ballclub,” said Doughty. “It really wasn’t that we played poorly defensively; they just hit the ball.”
Offensively, Ashby led the Gents with two hits and two RBI while Mouton and Pate Broussard each had one hit.
“You know, Alex has been an offensive leader for us the whole year and he really swung it well today,” said Doughty. “And Mackay had an RBI single as well. Those two gave us our offensive punch.”
Three CHS pitchers combined to give up 15 hits in six innings. Pate Broussard was chased after giving up six runs on seven hits and three walks in 2 1/3 innings. Mouton entered in relief and gave up six runs on four hits while striking out one in 2/3 innings. Ben Broussard finished the game and allowed one run on four hits and one walk while striking out three in the final three innings.
The loss, however, can take nothing away from the Gents and their impressive season, said Doughty. They finished with 20 victories despite having five injuries on the year.
Ben Broussard, Kaleb Istre and Luke Ancelet were sidelined for the first half of the season due to injuries while Zack Breaux and Jon Riley Mouton suffered season-ending injuries after district play began.
“For us to win 20 games, considering the injuries that we had, it was an exceptional season,” said Doughty. “We never really seemed to have our full arsenal of players and I thought for us to win 20 ball games was a big year for us.”