Ascension Athletics for April 27, 2017 – The Advocate

Gators, Griffins and Spartans make nonselect Class 5A bidistrict playoffs

All three 5-5A Ascension Parish high schools qualified for the nonselect division of the 5A playoffs. The No. 17 Dutchtown Griffins played at No. 16 Ouachita Parish, the No. 19 St. Amant Gators at No. 14 Ruston and the No. 22 East Ascension Spartans at No. 11 New Iberia. were scheduled to play on Tuesday, before this column's deadline.

East Ascension finished its season with doubleheader victories against the Broadmoor Buccaneers. The Spartans finished the season 17-17 overall and 5-5 in 5A district play.

The Dutchtown Griffins and the St. Amant Gators wound up regular season playing each other twice. In the opening game on April 18, Blayne Enlow pitched a complete game and only allowed two hits in a shutout performance to lead the Gators to a 2-0 win. Both teams were tied for second place in District 5-5A.

The Gators scored their two runs in the first and third innings. Ivan Prejeans started the two-out scoring with a double to left field. The next batter drew a walk and Zane Zeppuhar lined a single to right, scoring Prejean. Multisport star Briggs Bourgeois led off the third inning with a home run to left to give the Gators their final 2-0 score.

Dutchtown had a chance in the top of the third when Reid Bouchereau led off with a single. A sacrifice bunt was laid down and Bouchereau made it to second base. Enlow got a strikeout followed by a ground out to end the inning and strand the runner at second base. The Griffins had another opportunity in the sixth inning when Enlow hit a batter. He then walked the next batter with one out. Enlow pitched out to the jam with a fly ball and a strike out.

Dutchtown was held to two hits while the Gators scored their two runs on four hits. Joey Rodrigue and Bouchereau were 1-3 for the game for the Griffins while Bourgeois was 1-3 with a home run. Zeppuhar was1-3 with an RBI and Prejean was 1-2 with a double.

In the second game on April 20, the Griffins took it to the Gators by the score of 11-1. St. Amant was held to one run on three hits by winning pitcher Austin Bankert. Dutchtown scored their 11 runs on 10 hits led by Zach Merrifield who had a 3-4 performance at the plate with a double and 4 RBIs. Cameron Sibly add to the offensive effort with 3-4 on the night with a double and 3 RBIs.

St. Amant defeated Northshore 8-1 on Friday in the regional round of the Class 5A nonselect state softball playoffs. The Gators, 21-3, advance to the state tournament in Sulphur with the victory. The third-seeded Lady Gators will have to take on the No. 11 Live Oak Eagles in the state quarterfinals at Frasch Park in Sulphur at 2:30 p.m. Friday on field 16.

St. Amant opened the scoring with three runs in the third inning on three hits. Freshman Alyssa Romano (who also earned the win on the mound) started things off drawing a walk. A sacrifice bunt moved the runner up to second. With one out, Jadyn Rumfellow smashed a double to left field, scoring Addie Bourgeois to give the Gators a 1-0 advantage. Junior shortstop Taylor Tidwell added two runs with a homer to make it 3-0 for the Gators.

The Gators had a 4-1 lead going to the sixth inning and put the game out of reach with a four-run barrage. Senior left fielder Abby McKey hit a two-out grand slam to put the game away. McKey went 1-4 at the plate with a homer and 4 RBIs. Rumfellow went 2-3 with a pair of RBIs and Taylor Tidwell went 1-4, with 2 RBIs.

The Ascension Catholic High Bulldogs made the LHSAA softball quarterfinals and will be playing at 2:30 p.m. Thursday against Vermilion Catholic on Field 17 in Division IV.

GIRLS TRACK: 4x100 relay: third, Donaldsonville, 51.14.

GIRLS FIELD: high jump: third, Quinntyrce Bell, Donaldsonville, 4-08.

BOYS TEAM TOTALS: seventh, Donaldsonville, 49

BOYS TRACK: 100 meter: second, Christian Bell, Donaldsonville, 11.10; 4x100 relay: second, Donaldsonville, 43.96; and 4x200 relay: second, Donaldsonville, 1:30.77

BOYS FIELD: shot put: first, Davon Wright, Donaldsonville, 54-02; and discus: third, Davon Wright, Donaldsonville, 131-00.

BOYS TEAM TOTALS: second, Dutchtown, 127.5; third, St. Amant, 73; and fourth, East Ascension, 58.5.

BOYS FIELD: long jump: 4, Carlon Cayette, East Ascension, 20-1; shot put: second, Kyle Sarrazin, Dutchtown, 50-3 ; javelin: third, Haven Bruce, St. Amant, 140-5; fourth, Myles Dandridge, East Ascension, 133-0; high jump: first, Jerome Turner, St. Amant, 6-2 and second, Kelvin Reddix, Dutchtown, 5-10; pole vault: third, Wyatt Bercegeay, East Ascension, 10-6 and fourth, Lee Broussard, Dutchtown, 10-0; discus: third, Jordan Zuppardo, Dutchtown, 142-3 and fourth, Adrian Voisin, St. Amant, 132-6; triple jump: second, Jaylin Tran, Dutchtown, 39-2 , third, Kelvin Reddix, Dutchtown, 39-2 and fourth, Carlon Cayette, East Ascension, 39-0

BOYS TRACK: 4x200-meter relay: first, Dutchtown, 1:30.30, second, St. Amant, 1:30.65 and fourth, East Ascension, 1:31.77; 1,600 meters: third, Kaleb Chanet, East Ascension, 4:37.65 and fourth, Alex Snell, Dutchtown, 4:41.00; 110 hurdles: second, Noah Gray, Dutchtown, 14.88, third, VanShon Grayson, Dutchtown, 16.62 and fourth, Cameron Hollies, St. Amant, 18.56; 100 meter: third, Austin Simmeneaux, St. Amant, 11.22 and fourth, Tajhe Jones, St. Amant, 11.22; 800 meter: first, Parker McBride, Dutchtown, 1:55.68 and fourth, Zach Hatfield, Dutchtown, 2:01.69; 4x100 relay: first, East Ascension, 42.77, second, Dutchtown 42.95 and third, St. Amant, 43.05; 400 meter: first, Bryce Moore, Dutchtown, 49.15; 300 meter hurdles: fourth, VanShon Grayson, Dutchtown, 43.39; 200 meter: second, Tajhe Jones, St. Amant, 22.51 and third, LeShawn Simon, East Ascension, 22.56; 3,200 meter: third, Kaleb Chanet, East Ascension, 10:50.95 and fourth, Elliott Miles, Dutchtown, 10:56.89; and 4x400 relay: third, Dutchtown 3:31.16

GIRLS TEAM TOTALS: third, Dutchtown, 103; fourth, St. Amant, 92.5 points; and sixth, East Ascension, 8.

GIRLS FIELD: long jump: first, Leah Scott, Dutchtown, 18-7 ; third, Angely Rodriguez, Dutchtown, 16-5 ; shot put: fourth, Mia Gaines, Dutchtown, 33-7 ; javelin: second, Morgan Tidwell, St. Amant, 119-1; pole vault: third, Natalie Wilder, Dutchtown, 7-6 and fourth, Jillian Parks, St. Amant, 7-6; discus: third, Mia Gaines, Dutchtown, 111-6 and fourth, Eva Crochet, St. Amant, 98-11; and triple jump: first, Leah Scott, Dutchtown, 37-2

GIRLS TRACK: 4x200-meter relay: second, St. Amant, 1:46.15 and fourth, Dutchtown 1:48.27; 1,600 meter: third, Tara Stuntz, Dutchtown, 5:21.05; 100 meter hurdles: third, Nyah Williams, Dutchtown, 16.12 and fourth, Regan West, St. Amant, 16.51; 100 meter: first, Madison Glasby, St. Amant, 12.80 and third, Laiya Palmer, St. Amant, 12.92; 800 meter: fourth, Phoebe Poche, Dutchtown, 2:22.58; 4x100 relay: first, St. Amant 50.44 and fourth, East Ascension 55.29; 300 meter hurdles: first, Regan West, St. Amant, 48.22, second, Nyah Williams, Dutchtown, 48.95 and third, Hannah Laplace, St. Amant, 49.19; 200 meter: second, Laiya Palmer, St. Amant, 27.04, third, Madison Galsby, St. Amant, 27.14. and fourth, Brittany Lewis, Dutchtown, 27.20; 3,200 meter: second, Tara Stuntz, Dutchtown, 11:44.59 and Melissa Landry, Dutchtown, 13:19.56; and 4x400 relay: third, Dutchtown 4:10.62 and fourth, St. Amant, 4:26.15

Leah Scott, from Dutchtown, was awarded the Outstanding Field Performer.

Last Friday found me and Goosie Guice heading up north a bit to the Lake Larto/Saline complex in Jonesville, just above Marksville. Portions of the complex are located in Catahoula, LaSalle, Avoyelles and Rapides parishes. It includes Larto Lake, Saline Lake, Shad Lake and numerous interconnecting bayous and smaller lakes. It takes in regular backwater flooding from Red River, Black River and Little River.

We met a good friend and former guide in Grand Isle, Jeff Brumfield, to try our luck at catching some sac-a-lait. Jeff moved his guide service Flamin Hooks Guide Service back home and takes out folks to catch sac-a-lait, bream and bass.

This was my first experience fishing on this vast expanse of fishable water and I can honestly say I was impressed. Its basically undeveloped and its pristine beauty is worth the trip.

The method of choice in this area for sac-a-lait is called spider-rigging. When all the rods are set up, it looks like a spider on the front of the boat. The number of rods is determined by the capabilities of the boat and how many hooks and baits you want to fool with.

Jeff opted for eight rods. I know this sounds a little crazy, but he can pull it off easier than it looks or sounds. Twelve-foot rods are fitted with a crappie reel and his boat is designed with two rod holders that can hold four rods on each side of the troll motor. A weight is on the bottom of the line with two hooks about 4 feet up.

A remote control troll motor is a must because the speed can be set electronically and it holds perfect. All 16 hooks were baited, Jeff manned the remote control and we were off to the races.

The trick is to match speed, water depth and the depth of the baits. We started off going two-tenths of a mile an hour (thats very slow) fishing in 9 feet of water and the baits down about 5 feet deep. The action was steady but we were catching lots of small fish.

About an hour and a half later, Jeff sped up to four-tenths of a mile an hour and raised the baits up in the water column to about 4 feet. That turned out to be the magic numbers as our catch rate picked up along with the size of sac-a-lait we caught.

After catching 70 or more sac-a-lait, we headed to another spot to catch some bream. We found some on the beds getting ready for the spawn and in a matter of 30 minutes we caught 50 or 60 really big bluegills. We kept 45 of the sac-a-lait and 37 bream and ended up with a nice box full of panfish.

Lyle Johnson covers sports for The Ascension Advocate. He can be contacted at reelman@eatel.net or ascension@theadvocate.com.

Originally posted here:

Ascension Athletics for April 27, 2017 - The Advocate