Wildcats off to 3-0 start

The Westgate High-based Wildcats Junior American Legion baseball team may be young, but the squad is not ready to concede any game yet.

The Wildcats are 3-0 following an 18-15 win over the Vermilion Catholic-based Eagles on Thursday at WHS. Westgate also has wins over the Cajun Sting and Delcambre in its favor in the first week of junior Legion play, despite having only a few juniors-to-be on the squad.

“The oldest we have is 16,” said Wildcats coach Kenneth Bashay. “We’ve got kids coming out of middle school, and they’re getting acclimated to what we do.”

The goal of the season is to get some experience for the younger players, and prepare everyone for next high school season. Though only three or four are likely to play varsity ball next year, Bashay said, the way they’ve played so far is encouraging.

“The couple of kids we have who will be juniors, like Jared Williams and Colby Cook, those guys are leading us,” said Bashay. “It gives us some optimism for the future.”

Five players on the team will be freshmen, including a couple who started Thursday �” Drew Romero at shortstop and Dusty Meyers behind the plate.

“The biggest eye-opener is the ninth graders we had who are going into 10th grade,” said Bashay, who said that group made the most noticeable improvement “just from getting in the weight room and doing conditioning. We’re getting better.”

After three see-saw innings that saw three lead changes, Westgate went ahead for good with nine runs in the fourth inning against the Eagles.

The game was still in doubt despite the Wildcats tacking on another run in the fifth to go ahead 16-7, with VC scoring five runs in the sixth and three in the seventh to pull to within 18-15, thanks in part to a few errors.

“We want to come out and fight every game,” said Bashay. “We’re not ready to concede the title to anyone.”

Williams tripled and scored three runs for the Wildcats on Thursday. Romero had three singles, a double and scored twice; Blake Latiolais singled, doubled and scored two runs; and Cook scored twice.

Also for WHS, Myles Jeanminette and Meyers singled, Kyle Bourque and Alex Poirrier singled and scored runs, and Dylan Viator had a sacrifice fly RBI.

Garth Mitchell went 3-for-3 with a home run, a double and four runs scored for the Eagles. Josh Duhon had three hits and scored four runs, Joey Faulk doubled, and Andrew Hungerford and Mark Laporte each had a double and scored two runs.

“I’m just real proud of them,” said Bashay of his team’s efforts so far.