St. Mary Central 10s have pitching depth for regionals

St. Mary Central’s 10U All-Stars enter this weekend’s Louisiana Dixie Youth Minor AAA South Regional in Ponchatoula coming off an impressive run through the District 3 AAA Tournament in Franklin.
They will enter the next round of the postseason with depth on the mound, too.
St. Mary Central coach Ashley Boudreaux said all 12 of his players can pitch, something he likes about his team.
That group is headline by three players — Hayden Robinson, Luke Thomas and Jude Vasquez — who Boudreaux said could be aces for any team.
St. Mary Central, the District 3 champion, enters the Minor AAA South Regional Tournament in Ponchatoula today where they will face District 7 champion Ville Platte in a 1 p.m. contest.
St. Mary Central advanced to the regional round after outscoring their district opponents 52-13 en route to the district title. Their closest game was a 9-6 victory against Franklin.
At the district tournament, Thomas finished 2-0 on the mound, while Robinson and Vasquez each were 1-0.
The eight-team double elimination tournament will conclude Tuesday when a tournament champion will be crowned. The winner of the south regional will meet the winner of the north regional, which is being played in Winnsboro, in a best, two-out-of-three series July 24-25 in Alexandria.
In addition to St. Mary and Ville Platte, other teams in the south regional include Franklinton Americans, Bossier City, host Ponchatoula, Tioga, West Monroe North and Gonzales Americans.
While his team certainly isn’t short on pitching, Boudreaux said he thinks his team has come a lot way at the plate since they played their first tournament.
“I think we hit the ball 10 times better in this tournament (district) … than we did the first tournament,” Boudreaux said. “I feel like we’re growing as a team.”
As for Friday’s opponent, Ville Platte, Boudreaux said he has heard they are a good team.
While it was a different team, last year’s St. Mary Central 10U All-Star team fell to Ville Platte in the championship game of the south regional and lost in the state championship.
Vasquez is the lone returner from last year’s St. Mary Central squad that advanced to the finals.
However, St. Mary Central’s experience with Ville Platte goes further than 10-year-old action as Boudreaux noted that his team has experience on the 7- and 8-year-old level playing Ville Platte in a game that Boudreaux said he didn’t think St. Mary Central did well in. That means that this game could be a source of redemption, too.
To be successful in this weekend’s tournament, Boudreaux said his squad must connect on timely hits and need to battle when they face adversity and not let an inning get out of hand.