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Lemoine's 11th-inning walk-off lifts Eagles to state finals

SULPHUR — Central Catholic High School’s Mitchel Lemoine is known for his offensive abilities, but Wednesday evening with the Eagles in a tight spot in the Division IV semifinals, Lemoine displayed his pitching capabilities before concluding the game with his bat in a 5-4 Central Catholic victory over Ascension Catholic in 11 innings to advance the squad to its second-straight championship game.
With pitcher Blake Hidalgo nearly having exhausting the inning limit allowed by the Louisiana High School Athletic Association, the Eagles sent Lemoine to the mound in the top of the 11th.
He retired the Bulldogs in order.
In the bottom of the frame, with the bases loaded after an Adam Dupuis double, a Drake Angeron single and a walk to Bryce Grizzaffi, Lemoine deposited an 0-2 pitch into right field past the diving second baseman, scoring Dupuis for the winning run.
“I knew I had a chance of getting on the mound,” said Lemoine, who only had pitched approximately five innings before Wednesday’s appearance. “I didn’t think the game would be this close. I didn’t think I would get a chance to come in, but I’m glad I got to show my coach and my team what I had for them.”
Central Catholic Coach Tyler Jensen said he knew what Lemoine could do on the mound, but Jensen said because Lemoine is a solid first baseman, it is tough for the coaching staff to move him to the mound.
“We intrasquaded the other day, and we threw our other guys, and Mitchel made some of our starters look foolish,” Jensen said. “He has really good run on his ball, and he’s a really good player and he’s a guy I trust. … We just kind of went with our gut. … We would have (ridden) him as long as we could.”
As for Lemoine’s game winning hit, he said, “Honestly, I was just going up there … looking for something to hit (and) put it through the hole.”
Lemoine finished 3-for-6 with three RBIs and earned the win on the mound in an inning of action.
With Wednesday’s win, Central Catholic now will faced District 7-1A foe Ascension Episcopal for the inaugural Division IV state championship.
Ascension Episcopal advanced to the finals after defeating Houma Christian, 3-0, earlier Wednesday.
In Central Catholic’s win, the Eagles had to dig deep to get back into the ballgame as it fell behind 4-0 in the bottom of the second against Ascension Catholic.
Central Catholic starter Greg Leger ran into trouble in the top of second as after he began to have some control problems, hitting a batter and walking two more to load the bases with two outs, he walked Mason Zeringue to bring home the game’s first run, and Nick Bellina followed with a two-RBI single to left field past a diving Angeron for a 3-0 Bulldogs’ lead.
After Leger reloaded the bases with a walk to Landon Clifton, Hidalgo was brought in to pitch.
Hidalgo walked the first batter he faced, Ross Ponville, for a 4-0 Ascension Catholic lead, but he retired the next batter via a groundout to escape any more damage.
Central Catholic cut its deficit in half in the bottom of the third when the Eagles to the first three batters on base: Tyler Longman via an error, Dupuis on a bunt single down the first base line and Angeron with another bunt single to load the bases.
After Clifton struckout Bryce Grizzaffi, Leomine drove in a run on an infield single, and Leger plated a second run on a sacrifice fly.
The Eagles tied the game in the bottom of the fifth after back-to-back hits by Lemoine and Leger. Lemoine had a run-scoring single to centerfield, while Leger followed with a double to the left field wall to tie the game.
Both teams had opportunities to score throughout the remainder of the game, but nobody could get any runs across until Lemoine’s game-winner in the bottom of the 11th.
Other top Central Catholic offensive contributors included Angeron, 3-for-6, a stolen base and a run; Leger, 1-for-4, a double and two RBIs; Dupuis, 2-for-5, a double and two runs; and Hidalgo, 2-for-5, a double.
On the mound, Hidalgo pitched 8.1 innings and surrendered four hits with six walks, one hit batter and fanned four.
Leger pitched 1.2 innings and surrendered four runs (four earned) on one hit with four walks, two hit batters and fanned one.
Reliever David Giroir Jr. suffered the loss. In two innings, he surrendered one run (one earned) on four hits with two walks.
Clifton, who started for Ascension Catholic, received a no-decision. In eight innings, he surrendered four runs (two earned) on seven hits with three walks and fanned seven.
Bellina led Ascension Catholic with a 1-for-3 performance with two RBIs, while William Dunn was 2-for-4 with a run. Other top offensive contributors included Zeringue, 1-for-2 with an RBI and a run; and Ponville, an RBI.
“This is everything we thought the game would be,” Jensen said. “Maybe we didn’t think we’d go to 11, but me and (Ascension Catholic Coach) Todd (Landry) are pretty good friends, and he and I expected extra-inning-type game. Tight game. Their guys are just first class. They do everything the right way. I really do hurt for them to lose in the 11th inning like that. It’s tough. It’s tough to watch kids go through stuff like that, especially guys like (Nick) Bellina and (Landon) Clifton who have been around are really just good baseball players, and I have all the respect in the world for them.”

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