The Choudrant Lady Aggie softball dream has gotten off to a strong start in their first year under new head coach Wayne Antley.
Antley, who previously coached at Downsville for 24 years and Simsboro for eight, inherited a team that went 19-11 last year and had all but two players return this season.
The Lady Aggies have gotten off to a 8-2 start this season, thanks to a seventh-grade standout surrounding my multiple hard-swinging batters.
“In 10 games we’ve hit 10 home runs so far,” Antley said. “Addison Worley, a seventh-grader, has hit four of them. Zoey Smith has hit a couple, Emma Bell has hit one, Piper Bowen, who hits for us in the flex sometimes, has hit one, and Ellisa Guillotte has hit two. Guillotte has been on a hot streak and has 11 hits in her last 12 at bats.”
Three Lady Aggies basketball players — Worley, Smith and Mattie Johnson — also play softball, and Antley had to call Worley outdoors for their season-opening 13-0 win over River Oaks.
“Worley has played the most for us even though she’s in the seventh-grade,” Antley said. “I had to call her and tell her to come out for our game because we needed her to be our ninth player to have a full roster.”
Choudrant will use three pitchers, but Antley said Worley will get at least her fair share of time on the bump.
“We’ve got three different girls we can start as pitchers — (Worley), Mattie Johnson and Holly Bennett,” Antley said. “Holly has started most of our games but right now she’s got a bone bruise, or something. We’re not exactly sure yet, but we’re going to take it easy on her the next few days. (Today) we’ll probably start Addison when we go to Union (Parish), and then pitching Mattie some, too, is our plan.”
Antley said his primary lineup has Worley playing first base when Bennett is pitching, Bailey Grace Weaver is at second base, Guillotte plays shortstop and Johnson plays third base with Smith catching.
Starting in Choudrant’s outfield will be Grayson Pylant in left, Emma Bell in center and Kylie Willis in right field.
Guillotte is batting .654 on the season to lead the Lady Aggies with Bowen (.550) and Worley (.500) close behind.
Bell is averaging .480 at the plate while Smith is the other Lady Aggie hitting over .400 at .471.
Batting better than .300 for Choudrant are Bennett (.364), Weaver (.333) and Willis (.333).
Choudrant won its playoff opener last year as the 10th seed, defeating Mt. Herndon 12-2 before falling 2-1 to Stanley in the second round.
The Lady Aggies are currently ranked No. 10 in Class B softball power rankings according to GeauxPreps.com, with Quitman again looming as the probably toughest District 2-B opponent they’ll have to battle.
Quitman currently stands at 6-3 and fifth in Class B power rankings after reaching the semifinals in last year’s state tournament.
Choudrant defeated Carroll 15-0 in its last game and will play at Union Parish today before opening district play on Monday at Quitman.
“I’m happy about the way we’ve played so far, but there’s still a lot of season left,” Antley said. “Weston and Simsboro are both looking pretty good so far, so we just need to focus on continuing to get better. I just hope we can keep swinging the bat the way we have to start off the season.”
