SMC defeats Morgan City twice to win district crown

Entering Tuesday’s District 3 10-year-old championship contest, St. Mary Central and Morgan City both knew they were headed to the regional round.
The only thing left to decide was the district champion and their regional destination — either the North Regional in Franklin for the district runner-up or the South Regional in Metairie for the District Champion.
Because Morgan City entered Tuesday’s championship game undefeated, St. Mary Central needed to win the first game and force a winner-take-all contest in the second game.
St. Mary not only won the first contest, 5-2, but it run-ruled Morgan City in the second game, 16-6 in five innings, to earn the district title.
In the second game — like it had in the first contest — St. Mary Central jumped out to a big lead early, taking a 4-0 lead after the first inning, including runs after hits by Ross Thomas, Owen Thorguson and Hayden Landry.
Morgan City, however, responded in a big way in the bottom of the first inning as it began the inning with back-to-back triples by Dakota Gibson and Randy Fontenot to plate the team’s first run.
The next batter, Caleb Menina, singled to left field and scored another run.
Morgan City scored another run later in the inning on Dylan Cornes’ single to right field to cut its deficit to 4-3 with no outs, prompting St. Mary Central to replace starting pitcher Luke Zerangue with Carter Williams.
Williams pitched the remainder of the game and earned the win, surrendering three runs — two earned — on five hits with two walks and fanned five.
St. Mary Central plated single runs in the second and third innings.
While Morgan City responded with a run in the bottom of the third, St. Mary Central erupted with eight runs in the top of the fourth inning for a 14-4 advantage.
Morgan City kept the run-rule from going into effect in the bottom of the fourth with a run, but St. Mary Central responded with two more runs in the top of the fifth.
Morgan City could muster just one, ending the game.
Offensively, Landry led St. Mary Central with a 3-for-4 performance with a triple, four RBIs and two runs.
Other top contributors were Thomas, 3-for-4, a triple, three RBIs and a run; Williams, 2-for-4, two doubles, three RBIs and two runs; Tanner Simmons, 2-for-3, an RBI and two runs; Owen Thorguson, 2-for-3, an RBI and a run; Jackson Thorguson, 1-for-3, two RBIs and a run; Clay Menard, 1-for-3, an RBI and two runs; and Jude Vasquez, 1-for-4, three runs.
Menina suffered the loss for Morgan City. In three innings, he surrendered 10 runs — nine earned — on eight hits with five walks and five strikeouts. He also hit two batters.
Offensively, Gibson led Morgan City with a 2-for-3 performance with a triple, while Cornes was 2-for-3 with an RBI and Fontenot, 1-for-3 with a triple and an RBI.
Other top contributors for Morgan City included Menina and Ty’Jae Vaughns, each 1-for-3 with an RBI; and Drew Rock, 1-for-3.
St. Mary Central 5,
Morgan City 2
In game 1, St. Mary Central did all of its damage early, plating its five runs in the first two innings before Morgan City’s pitching and defense kept St. Mary Central off the scoreboard the remainder of the game.
St. Mary Central scored its first run via a bases-loaded walk to Luke Zerangue by Cornes.
After Cornes retired the next batter via a called third strike, two more runs scored on a play that featured a single by Owen Thorguson to left field and a throw that went awry after deflecting off the pitcher’s mound and Cornes.
Cornes stayed in the game after being attended to.
St. Mary Central plated another run on Landry’s single to right field.
While St. Mary Central again loaded the bases in the first, Cornes and Morgan City got out of it without any more damage.
St. Mary Central scored its final run in the bottom of the second via a double to the left field wall by Simmons.
Morgan City plated its two runs in the fourth inning. The first came via a double to deep center field by Menina that scored Gibson, who led off the inning with a double.
Jacob Blum drove in Morgan City’s second run via a ground out to third base.
Besides a runner stranded at third base in the fourth, Morgan City had other opportunities to score but left the bases loaded in the third inning and runners on second and first base in the fifth inning.
St. Mary Central pitcher Ross Thomas, who earned the win, got out of the third and fifth innings unscathed.
For the game, Thomas pitched five innings and surrendered two earned runs on three hits with four walks and four strikeouts. He also hit a batter.
Offensively, Simmons led St. Mary Central with a 3-for-3 performance with a double, an RBI and a run, while Landry was 1-for-2 with an RBI.
Other top contributors for St. Mary Central were Owen Thorguson, 1-for-3, an RBI; Thomas, 1-for-3, a run; Jude Vasquez, 1-for-3; and Zerangue, an RBI and a run.
Morgan City was limited to just three hits in the first game — all doubles.
Dakota Gibson and Andy Gros each finished 1-for-2, while Menina was 1-for-3.
Blum and Cornes each recorded Morgan City’s RBIs.
Cornes suffered the loss for Morgan City. In two innings, he surrendered five earned runs on five hits with three walks and fanned two.
In relief, Drew Rock pitched three innings and surrendered two hits, two walks and fanned three.
Patterson advances
to regionals
The Patterson 10-year-old All-Stars will advance to the 10-year-old Dixie Youth North Regional that will be held in Franklin, Seth Thomas, Assistant State Director of the South for Louisiana Dixie Youth said Tuesday.
Patterson, who finished third in district after falling to St. Mary Central 11-1 Monday, will advance due to a lack of teams from the New Orleans-area District 2, which is hosting the South Regional, Thomas said.
While Thomas said a host team as well as a district champion and a runner-up advance to regionals in a district that is hosting a regional, because District 2 does not play 10-year-old baseball, that left three spots open that are being filled by various teams in other districts.
Because District 3 is hosting the other regional, they were awarded one of the additional spots, Thomas said.