More than a playoff tuneup now; Ascension Catholic hosts Catholic-Pointe Coupee in Division IV quarterfinal – The Advocate

Its been nearly two weeks since Catholic-Pointe Coupee traveled to Ascension Catholic in a final postseason tuneup.

The Bulldogs, behind ace right-hander Landon Clifton, won 6-2.

One game into the Division IV state playoffs they will meet again where the stakes will be amplified when No. 4 Ascension Catholic (20-12) hosts No. 5 Catholic-Pointe Coupee in quarterfinal action at 6 p.m. Tuesday at La La Regira Field in Donaldsonville.

I dont think either team would like to be playing each other again, Ascension Catholic coach Todd Landry said. Were two evenly matched teams and as a coach you never like to play a team more than once. Im looking forward to it. Its going to be an exciting game.

There will be two other local/area state quarterfinals Tuesday with No. 7 Family Christian Academy (3-16) visiting No. 2 Claiborne Christian (15-14) at 4 p.m. in Division V.

No. 8 Ascension Christian (21-9) travels to No. 1 and reigning Class 1A state champion Central Catholic-Morgan City (25-7) at the Amelia Recreation Center in a Division IV game.

First-year Catholic-PC coach Drew Leonard said his teams regular-season finale against Ascension Catholic will serve his team well with another opportunity to face the Bulldogs on their home field.

Theyre an extremely good club and extremely well- coached, Leonard said. Its a pretty good atmosphere. Its going to be a great place to play again with even more people. I think our guys will be up for it.

Landry agreed his six-member senior class, which is participating in its fourth straight state quarterfinal, has designs on reaching the state tournament for the first time since 2009.

Ascension Catholics riding a four-game win streak, including its four-run win over Catholic-PC and last weeks 6-2 opening-round playoff victory over St. Marys.

We havent been fortunate enough to get over that hump, Landry said. Thats kind of been one of our themes this year. This teams been through so many ups and downs. They know they have to take it one game at a time.

Clifton (9-3), an LSU-Eunice signee, will start again with Ascension Catholic looking for offensive support from shortstop Nick Bellina (also an LSU-Eunice signee), third baseman Ross Ponville, center fielder Mason Zeringue, first baseman Charlie Genaloni and Clifton

Catholic-PC snapped a three-game losing streak in dramatic fashion a 4-3 victory in nine innings over Vermilion Catholic in a regional-round playoff game.

The Hornets tied the game at 3-3 with two outs in the seventh when senior first baseman Walker Castle singled home senior Kyle Ramagos.

Catholic-PC, which loaded the bases in the ninth, scored the game-winner on an error off the bat of Colin Grezaffi.

Leonard said he will start either left-hander Samuel Grezaffi or right-hander Cameron Pearis.

The biggest takeaway was the fight our guys showed, said Leonard, whose team is looking for its first state-tournament trip since 2011. It was exciting, and I was proud to see those seniors step up.

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More than a playoff tuneup now; Ascension Catholic hosts Catholic-Pointe Coupee in Division IV quarterfinal - The Advocate