St. James run-rules Patterson, 11-1

One big inning was all the St. James Lady Wildcats needed Saturday to punch their ticket to the second round of the Class 3A state softball playoffs.
After a scoreless first inning, the No. 9 Lady Wildcats erupted for nine runs in the second inning and never looked back in an 11-1 win against the No. 24 Patterson Lumberjills. The game was stopped in the fifth inning because of the 10-run mercy rule.
It was St. James’ second playoff win in school history. The Lady Wildcats recorded that historic first playoff win last season with a 9-4 victory against South Beauregard.
With the win, St. James (21-4 overall) will face the winner of Monday’s No. 8 Westlake/No. 25 Iowa game in the second round of the Class 3A playoffs.
In Saturday’s game, each teams put runners on base the first inning via walks, but none crossed home plate. Patterson put two runners on in the second inning via a hit batter and walk, but once again, they were left stranded.
The Lady Wildcats put the game away in the bottom of the second inning by scoring nine runs on seven hits and sent 13 batters to the plate.
Maley Stein (2-for-3, two runs, RBI) got things started with a bloop single to centerfield, and the Lady Wildcats quickly loaded the bases on Jordyn Ledet’s bunt single and Abigail Lassere’s walk.
St. James took a 1-0 lead when Shelby McManus drew a bases-loaded walk to score Stein. Kayla Ferchaud followed with a two-run single up the middle to score Ledet and Lassere (1-for-2. run, three RBIs) for a 3-0 lead.
St. James added to its lead when McManus raced home on Trystan Trege’s sacrifice fly, and Kiri Parker added an RBI triple to score Ferchaud (1-for-2, run, two RBIs) for a 5-0 lead.
Courtesy runner Melissa Sanchez raced home on a wild pitch, and Stein added an RBI single to score Chante Keller (two runs) for a 7-0 lead.
St. James capped the second-inning scoring when Lassere ripped a two-run single to bring home Stein and Ledet (3-for-3, three runs, RBI) for a 9-0 lead.
The nine-run cushion was all Parker needed in the circle to neutralize Patterson’s offense. She limited the Lumberjills (10-19) to one run on two hits — all in the third inning — with five strikeouts, two walks and one hit batter.
Patterson scored its lone run as Makayala Knight hit into a fielder’s choice that allowed Emmeli Smith (1-for-3, double) to score from third base. Cayla Wiggins (1-for-2) had the Lumberjills other hit during the inning.
St. James put the 10-run mercy rule in play by scoring two runs in the bottom of the fourth inning. After leading off with a walk, Keller scored on Ledet’s RBI single. Ledet later scored on Lassere’s sacrifice fly for the 11-1 lead.
Parker shut down Patterson in the top of the fifth inning to close out the game and advance to the second round of the Class 3A playoffs.
Tapanga Haven suffered the loss as she surrendered 11 runs (10 earned) on nine hits with two strikeouts and five walks.