By T. Scott Boatright
CHOUDRANT — They plated three runs in the first inning, but anyone who’s been around the Lady Aggies softball program this season knew early on during Thursday that they simply didn’t have the bats they usually do.
And so, slowly but surely, ninth-seeded Holden chopped away at eighth-seeded Choudrant’s rotation as the Rockets went on to earn at 10-4 road win over the Lady Aggies in second round action of the Louisiana High School Athletics Association Class B Softball Playoffs at at the CHS Softball field.
The first sign of the trouble for Choudrant came early as with two runners on base with singles and another due to a fielding error, Holden launched a grand slam over the centerfield fence for a quick 4-0 lead.
A lead the Rockets never relinquished from then on.
Not to say the Lady Aggies didn’t have any fight, because they didn’t plating three runs in the bottom of the opening stanza thanks in large part to a two-run single hit by Kelsee Guillotte.
But even after seeing that performance, Choudrant coach Stacey Tassin could already tell her team wasn’t playing its standard game.
“I knew it from the start because we just weren’t hitting well,” Tassin said. “And then they took Zoey’s (Brown) bat away every time by walking every time she came up. They took it out of her hands every time she went up to bat.”
After the game Tassin said she told her team it happened, and it’s done now.
“I just told them to keep their head up and that we didn’t hit the ball like we should have,” Tassin said. “We knew Holden was going to hit and they did hit. They beat us at that part of the game today.’
Holden pushed its lead to 9-1 in the top of the second inning, with a three-run round tripper doing much of that damage.
The Rockets added a late run after frustration had set in for Aggies, who plated their only other run in the bottom of the fourth inning off a RBI-single hit by Briley McGuire
“This team tried hard,” Tassin said. “We knew they would. They ke[t fighting. But when things aren’t clicking with your bats, it’s probably not going happen for you in the end.”
