CCHS to meet district foe AE for title

SULPHUR — Central Catholic High School will look to conclude its 2017 with a state championship when it takes on District 7-1A foe Ascension Episcopal Friday at 7 p.m.
No. 1 Central Catholic (27-7) enters the game, which will be played on Field 37, riding a 14-game winning streak. Two of the victories in that win streak were against Ascension Episcopal, the No. 11 seed. Central Catholic defeated the Blue Gators by a combined 21-8 in the two games, taking a 7-4 win in Youngsville on April 20 and following it up with a 14-4 win on April 22.
Ascension Episcopal (25-8) started the season 3-3 but since has won 22 of their last 27 games.
Prior to their loss to Central Catholic, Ascension Episcopal was riding a seven-game winning streak.
“They’re probably the best coach team in the entire state,” Central Catholic Coach Tyler Jensen said. “They do a lot of little things correctly. It’s going to be a real challenge for us. A real challenge.”
Since the two Central Catholic losses, Ascension Episcopal has outscored opponents 17-5 in the postseason with wins against No. 6 Hanson Memorial, No. 3 Covenant Christian and No. 10 Houma Christian.
Meanwhile, a year after winning the Class 1A state championship, Central Catholic will be looking to do the same in the inaugural Division IV this season.
After a 1-4 start to the season, the Eagles now have won 26 of their last 29 games.
Central Catholic’s road to the finals has included a 9-0 win against No. 16 False River, a 7-1 victory against No. 8 Ascension Christian and a 5-4 victory in 11 innings against No. 4 Ascension Catholic.
The Eagles enter the finals with an interesting pitching predicament as senior Gregory Leger threw 60 pitches in 1.2 innings of work before being lifted due to control problems and replaced by Blake Hidalgo, who threw another 8.1 innings of relief.
Eagles’ first baseman Mitchel Lemoine threw the remaining inning to secure the win.
“As far as pitching goes for us, we have a lot of guys we have faith in, guys that we’ve worked throughout the year, whether it be a freshman or a senior or whatever else,” Jensen said.
Jensen said his team would have to play a better game Friday, especially in the early going, than they did Wednesday.
“Those guys don’t fear us,” Jensen said of Ascension Episcopal. “They’re playing for a state championship, so I expect a really good baseball game. Two teams really getting after it.”