Picou leads 4 CCHS Lady Eagles all-state selections

The Central Catholic Lady Eagles had four members of their softball team receive Louisiana Sports Writers Association Class 1A All-State recognition, including one first-team selection.
Central Catholic’s Taylor Picou led the Lady Eagles as a first-team utility selection. She was joined by honorable mention picks Kelly Russo, Sarah Thomas and Kaleigh Navarro.
Picou, a Delta State Uni-versity signee, finished her senior season with a .534 batting average. She had 14 doubles, two triples, eight home runs, 37 RBIs and 44 runs. She also had 13 stolen bases.
Picou recorded an on-base percentage of .557, a slugging percentage of .942 and a fielding percentage of .860.
Former Central Catholic coach Joe Russo said that Picou had a good offensive year as a senior and was an unselfish player in her years with the program.
“We ended up putting her at shortstop her senior year,” Russo said. “It paid off for her. She gave 100 percent at everything we asked her to do, so Taylor had a really good year.”
Thomas finished her senior season with a 15-6 record. In 106.1 innings, she surrendered 64 runs (46 earned) on 95 hits with 29 walks and 54 strikeouts. She had a 3.03 ERA.
“I can’t say enough about Sarah because that’s a kid that after we won the state championship in 2015 with Megan, I had no pitchers that even pitched high school ball at that point, and Sarah came in and stepped it up,” Russo said.
He said as a senior, Thomas was “truly the backbone of the team on the mound.”
Russo batted .472 with three triples, 18 RBIs and 20 runs. She also stole five bases, had an on-base percentage of .506 and a slugging percentage of .556.
At second base, she had a .895 fielding percentage.
“Kelly probably had her best year in her years playing with me, offensively and defensively,” Russo said.
Navarro batted .385 with six doubles, one triple, 33 RBIs and 18 runs.
She finished the year with a .415 on-base percentage, a .473 slugging percentage and a .889 fielding percentage from her right field position.
Russo said she “played an outstanding outfield for us and was also strong offensively.”
Katelin Cooper of Division IV state champion Cedar Creek was named Class 1A Most Valuable Player, while Trey Bennett of Class 1A state champion Oak Grove is this year’s Class 1A Coach of the Year.