Berwick looking for more this year as it returns to Sulphur

The Berwick High School baseball team is back at the position where last season ended, and this time, they are looking to finish the season on a positive note.
After a nine-year absence from the state semifinals, Berwick is back in the state’s final four in Class 3A for the second straight season.
A year ago, Berwick fell to eventual state champion South Beauregard, 6-1, while this year, the squad will return to Field 41 at McMurry Park in Sulphur where it will face top-seed Sterlington (32-3). Berwick (27-8) enters the semifinals as the No. 4 seed.
“They’re confident and I believe they believe they can win it,” first-year Berwick High School coach Brandon Bravata said of his squad. “I don’t know that we really believed it last year. I think we may have said we did, but I’m not sure if we really did.”
Despite losing nine seniors from last year, including six starters, the Panthers enter the state tournament with more wins this year than a season ago.
“It’s definitely that gut feeling of losing out in the semis,” junior outfielder/pitcher Mitchell Sanford said of the mindset coming into this year. “You just want to go back and prove what you know you can do, and these guys, not having the experience and us coming in and trying to prove something this season has just really put a chip on our shoulder. I think we’ve done a great job so far.”
Five of Berwick’s eight losses this year have been by two runs or less. The Panthers are averaging 11.9 runs a game, while surrendering 4.2 per contest.
In the playoffs, Berwick is scoring 11.8 runs a contest and surrendering just 1.2 per game.
Berwick is 5-0 in postseason play, with four of those runs by run-rule. The Panthers defeated No. 29 Peabody, 12-0, in five innings; No. 13 Jennings, 10-0 in five innings and 13-1 in five innings to win their regional round series, while topping No. 5 Eunice, 12-2, in six innings and 12-3 to win their quarterfinal series.
As a team, Berwick is batting .374, while its pitching staff has a combined ERA of 2.21.
Berwick senior catcher Lucas Hatch said he didn’t expect the offense to do as well as they have. He said he expected the defense to be better than the offense this year.
Teammate and senior shortstop/pitcher Kyle Pitre said that this season’s success may have been a surprise to outsiders but not the Panthers.
“We worked a lot harder,” he said. “We’ve really earned this. We put in all the work that we need to get to this point, so it really doesn’t surprise the team as much as anyone would think.”
While Berwick has had a surprisingly easy time in its playoff journey this far, it will face a Sterlington team that has more experience at the state tournament than them. A year ago, Sterlington won the Class 2A title before moving up to Class 3A this year and securing the top seed in the postseason.
Sterlington enters the semifinals having won 15 straight games. Their last loss was a 4-0 defeat to West Monroe on March 30.
Sterlington’s playoff journey features an 11-0 win in five innings against No. 32 Wossman in the bi-district round, 3-0 and 6-0 victories against No. 16 Pine Prairie in the regional round an 11-1 win in six innings and a 6-3 victory against No. 9 Erath to win the quarterfinal series.
Like Berwick, Sterlington has not lost a game this postseason.
Every team Sterlington has lost to this season, they’ve also beaten in another matchup.
Sterlington, who also is the Panthers, are averaging 11.2 runs a game and surrendering just 1.9 runs per contest.
In the playoffs, it is averaging 7.4 runs a game and surrendering just 0.8 runs a game.
One of the Panthers’ assistant coaches is former Major Leaguer Ben Sheets, who pitched collegiately at the University of Louisiana at Monroe. Sheets’ son is a freshman third baseman for Sterlington.
Bravata said he has heard the Panthers have a good offense and feature a right hander and a left hander on the mound.
“More than anything, it’s about us at this point,” he said. “How do we prepare, and you get there and you show up and you play and hopefully some good things happen and the guys are ready.”
Hatch said the lesson the team took from last season is about preparation.
“Preparation is key, and all the hard work you put in at practice will eventually get good outcomes in the future,” he said.
This season, Pitre leads the Berwick offense with a .490 batting average. He has 15 doubles, two triples, two home runs, 36 RBIs and 16 stolen bases.
Reid Wiley is next on offense with a.466 batting average with four doubles, one triple, 23 RBIs and nine stolen bases, while Hatch is batting .426 with nine doubles, two triples, four home runs, 41 RBIs and two stolen bases.
On the mound, Sanford is 6-1 with a 0.77 ERA. He has allowed just 25 hits, walked 15 and struck out 64 in 46.2 innings.
Meanwhile, Pitre is 8-3 with a 2.74 ERA. He has allowed 31 hits, walked 27 and fanned 74 in 53.2 innings.
Patrick Robertson is third on the team with a 2.35 ERA. In 39.2 innings, he has allowed 33 hits, walked 13 and struck out 42.