By T. Scott Boatright
While you can take two rivals out of the same district, you can’t take away the intensity of cross-parish foes.
Simsboro’s and Choudrant’s softball teams proved that to be true Wednesday evening as the Lady Tigers held on for an 8-7 win over the Aggies in a hard-fought showdown that went down to the final at bat at the CHS Softball Field.
Choudrant trailed 8-6 going into the bottom of the seventh and final inning, and with Simsboro starting pitcher Carlei Wheeler, an LSU-Eunice signee, having already recorded 11 strikeouts, the Lady Aggies knew they were facing a tough challenge to try and rally for the win.
That’s where the intensity came into play for the Lady Aggies.
Leftfielder Kelcee Guillotte led off with a single and reached second on a passed ball before reaching third on a single hit by second baseman Linlee Garrett.
Wheeler followed with a strikeout but then gave up an RBI-double to Kylie Willis to pull within a run of the Lady Tigers at 8-7.
That’s when Simsboro coach Payton Bond decided it was time for a change-up in the circle, having Wheeler switch positions with first baseman Kennady King.
“That was a tough decision to make,” Bond said. “And it was hard to do. But me and Carlei had talked about it several times this year — that we really wanted to try and mix up that speed and throw the batters off. We wanted to get to a position where we could trust Kennady to come in and go just that — get those final two outs.”
And King did just that, forcing a fielder’s choice for the second out of the inning that advanced Choudrant power hitter Zoey Smith.
King then forced Choudrant to hit into a shortstop-to-first grounder that Wheeler fittingly fielded and fired to first base for the final out of the contest.
“That was huge for Kennady to do that,” Bond said. “And I really do think that after seeing Carlei that whole game, that change in speed that (Choudrant) had to face was a big deal. It caught them off guard. Those were two huge outs and I’m so proud of Kennedy for moving to pitcher and doing what she needed to do — throw strikes and put it into play and let our defense get the win for us.”
Choudrant coach Stacy Tassin knows just how tough that late pitching change was for her batters to face.
“That’s a hard adjustment for the batters to make,” Tassin said. “They were hitting Carlei, and it was a tough adjustment. But they still kept fighting. I think they did well. I know I’m very proud of the way they kept fighting until the end.”
Simsboro began the game with an early lead after pushing across three runs in the top of the second inning before Choudrant first baseman Faith Milton homered to cut the Lady Tigers’ lead to 3-1.
The Lady Tigers added another run in the top of the third, but Choudrant countered with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the stanza to cut Simsboro’s lead to 4-3.
Choudrant moved out on top in the inning thanks to a Simsboro fielding error as a fierce win played havoc with fly balls throughout the contest. Willis and Smith both scoring runs to put the Lady Aggies out in front 5-4.
But Simsboro plated four runs in the top of the fifth off singles by Jacoya Lewis, King (who added a run batted in) and Ciara Caldwell, who also notched an RBI.
Scoring runs for Simsboro in the inning were Lewis, Kalee Hamilton, who reached base on a fielding error, King and Caldwell.
Choudrant cut the Lady Tigers’s advantage to 8-6 in the top of the sixth inning off a Smith solo homer that set up the frantic finish for both teams after Choudrant added its run in the top of the seventh.
Both teams have already finished their brief district seasons in second place, with Simsboro falling to Quitman in the 1-B Tournament title game while Choudrant finished in second in 2-B behind Logansport.
But just because they’re no longer district rivals did nothing as far as making a Simsboro vs. Choudrant contest less intense.
“That was one thing going into this season — even though we’re not still in the same district, we didn’t want to give up a game like that with all the history, rivalry and intensity that’s there,” Bond said. “It was a no-brainer — we had to play at least one game against each other.
“And that wasn’t easy to do. The first game we had scheduled had to be postponed until today. I’m just glad that we both had this open date. But then the wind and the weather made things tough today. I’m just so glad the rain held off until we could get it finished.”
Wheeler has only thrown around 80 strikeouts this season but still became the first Simsboro pitcher known to ever to break the 1,000-K barrier earlier this season.
“She hasn’t pitched as much this year because we have three other pitchers we’re using too, getting ready for the future,” Bond said about Wheeler. “I don’t know her exact numbers, but Carli has pitched in some really big games this season and done well.”
“She did have an injury this season that kept her out some. She missed four games with a high-ankle sprain. So, she’s really just now getting back into a rhythm. I didn’t want to chance it early in the season knowing that we had some big games coming in the back half of the season. So, we kind of limited her early, but she looked really good today and I have full confidence in that ankle now.”
Next up for Simsboro (16-9) is a game slated to be played at D’Arbonne Woods on Monday while Choudrant (11-8) will host Lakeside today, weather permitting.
