For five innings, everything was going Evangeline Little League’s way in its elimination game against Lake Charles Little League in the state 9- and 10-year-old softball tournament.

ELL held a 4-3 lead with the bases loaded and none out in the bottom of the fifth with one of its best players at bat.

Then the bottom fell out on one pitch.

Advertisement

ELL pitcher Shelby Broussard, who up to that point had effectively shut down Lake Charles, was hit in the face by an errant pitch from LC’s Layna Savoie and was eventually taken to the hospital for treatment.

While ELL eventually scored three runs in the inning for a 7-3 lead, coach David Breaux had no other pitcher to turn to and was forced to put in position players to finish out the game.

Lake Charles took advantage and scored five runs in the top of the sixth to take the lead and held on for a 9-8, eight inning win over Evangeline which eliminated Team Green from the state Minor Girls playoffs with a third-place finish.

“In baseball, in life, sometimes you don’t get the breaks,” said Breaux. “We had them beat and there’s no doubt that we know, you know and everybody here knows we had them beat.

“Our starting pitcher is up to bat and on ball four she catches it in the face and I don’t have anybody left to put in. I had to put in pitchers that I never saw pitch but were co-ordinated and athletic enough that I knew could pitch.

“My hat’s off to these girls. They never quit. I’m very proud of them.”

Broussard’s injury was the turning point of the game.

“It was a sad turning factor that was in our favor,” said Lake Charles coach Rachelle Monceaux. “I think that the injury motivated them. The pitchers that came in did a good job for them in keeping us off balance.”

Without Broussard in the circle, Lake Charles pushed across five runs in the sixth to wipe out a 7-3 deficit and take an 8-7 lead, but ELL refused to go down without a fight.

With two out in the sixth inning, Randi Provost singled, stole second and third base and came home on a throwing error by Lake Charles catcher Baily Bruchhaus to tie the game at 8-8 and force extra innings.

ELL hung with Lake Charles through the seventh but the visitors scored a run in the eighth and held on for the win to advance to the finals against Blanchard Little League tonight.

“Those girls fought and gave it everything they had and we came up short,” said Breaux. “There’s no question that Shelby was our heart. I knew that I only had two pitchers and we thought that we could slide by. Sometimes you get a bad break that that’s what happens.

“If Shelby doesn’t get hurt, we win the game. There’s no question about that.”

Until the injury, ELL had control of the game and never let go.

Evangeline spotted Lake Charles a run in the first but rallied with three runs in the second thanks to RBI singles from Crystal Kimble and Kelly Perez. ELL added another run in the third on a Broussard single and an RBI double from Brailyn Jolivette and the team even managed to push across three runs in the injury-marred fifth with an RBI single from Sydney Labiche, an RBI walk from Jolivette and a Lake Charles error that scored Madeline Vines.

“It looked like it was our night until the bottom of the fifth,” said Breaux. “We’re up a couple of runs, then our pitcher gets hit and — boom — it falls apart.”

According to Breaux, Broussard was taken to the hospital with facial injuries to her nose and cheek from the impact of the pitch.

But even with the way the game and the season ended, Breaux looks forward to next year and another ELL run.

“I enjoyed this. I coach it because I love it and I thrive off of their success,” said Breaux. “I have a girl who is crying her eyes out with two strikes against her but she gets back in and rips a single to right, steals second and third and scores to tying run.

“All her life she’ll never forget that. That’s why I coach.”