No. 11 AES upsets No. 1 CCHS, 7-3 for Division IV title

No. 1 Central Catholic’s bid for a repeat state championship came to a heartbreaking end Friday as the squad was upset by No. 11 seed and District 7-1A f o e A s c e n s i o n Episcopal, 7-3, at McMurry Park.
While the Eagles overcame an early deficit, miscues and timely hitting by Ascension Episcopal doomed the Eagles.
Central Catholic Coach Tyler Jensen said he told his team in the past that walks and errors are how they lose playoff games, and those two aspects factored into their loss.
“That’s kind of what happened, and they got a couple of big hits,” Jensen said. “They just beat us. They out played us, they out coached us, the whole nine yards, and sometimes you got to just tip your cap to the other team. It just happened for them.”
The loss snapped a 14-game winning streak that included a series sweep of the Blue Gators in District 7-1A action earlier this season. The Eagles faced the Blue Gators’ Carter Dooley Friday in the state title game.
Earlier this season in the regular season finale, Central Catholic pounded Dooley for eight runs (six earned) on eight hits. However, Friday in the state title game, Dooley pitched a complete game and surrendered three runs (three earned) on six hits with two walks, two hit batters and fanned three.
“Early on, I kind of sensed we weren’t ourselves,” Jensen said. “We didn’t have the greatest at bats. We’ve seen this guy before. He just shut us down. Later on in the game, we started having some better at bats but it just seemed like we hit it right to them.”
Ascension Episcopal took a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning. With two outs and the bases loaded via a hit batter and two walks, Central Catholic starter Gregory Leger threw a wild pitch for a 1 - 0 A s c e n s i o n Episcopal. After a second walk, Leger threw another wild pitch that scored a second run.
Leger fanned Eli Mouton to escape any more damage.
Central Catholic cut its deficit to 2-1 in the bottom of the second inning when Leger homered to left field.
However, Ascension Episcopal regained its two-run lead in the top of the third when Sean Michael Brady hit a sacrifice fly to centerfield that scored University of Louisiana at Lafayette signee Jeffery Elkins. Elkins led off the inning with a triple to the centerfield wall.
The Eagles tied the game at 3 in the bottom of the third when Mitchell Lemoine connected on a two-out single to right field that scored Adam Dupuis and Drake Angeron. Both had reached base on bunt singles.
Ascension Episcopal took the lead for good when an errant throw in an attempt to pick off a runner at third base with two outs scored a run, and Brennan Lightfoot followed with a run-scoring single for a 5-3 lead.
After another Central Catholic error kept the inning alive, Mouton followed with a single to centerfield that scored a run for a 6-3 lead.
Central Catholic made things interesting in the bottom of the sixth when it loaded the bases with two outs. However, Dooley escaped the jam unharmed.
Ascension Episcopal added its final run in the top of the seventh via a Mouton single to right field. Mouton led Ascension Episcopal with a 2-for-3
performance with a double and two RBIs.
Other top offensive contributors for the Blue Gators included Elkins 1-for-2, a triple, a stolen base and three runs; Lightfoot, 1-for-3, an RBI and a run; and Brady, an RBI and a run.
Leger led Central Catholic with a 2-for-3 performance with a home run, an RBI and a run, while Lemoine was 1-for-4 with two RBIs.
Brooks Thomas, the second of three Central Catholic pitchers, suffered the loss. In 3.2 innings, he surrendered four runs (three earned) on three hits with two walks and fanned six.
Leger started the game, and in one inning, he surrendered two runs (one earned) with four walks and one strikeout.
Thomas Mire finished the game, and in 2.1 innings, he surrendered one run (one earned) on three hits with one walk and fanned three.
Central Catholic will be losing a large senior class, which Jensen called “great guys,” from this year’s team.
“They’ve grown up a lot,” Jensen said. “When they were younger, maybe we didn’t always see eye-to-eye, but those guys every year became more and more mature, and they actually became fantastic leaders. The big knock on them when they were young (was) they were really talented players but they wouldn’t be good leaders, and they weren’t good leaders. They were great leaders, and they’re all going to be a bunch of guys that are going to go on and be successful in life.
"I hurt for them the most," Jensen added. "I hurt for all our guys, but those guys have given so much to our program, done so much for our program, there’s not enough good things I can say. They’ve made me a better coach but probably more important a better man.”