By Tom Dodge

sportsenews@bellsouth.net

Rain, rain go away and come back another day.

That would be the chant the local coaches may be saying in preparation for the weekend’s annual St. Landry Parish baseball and softball tournaments.

After seeing the John R. Young baseball tournament washed away this past weekend, Eunice head coach Scott Phillips is hopeful the weather is better for the parish tournament as Eunice High enters as the top seeds in both baseball and softball.

“It messed up everything,” Phillips said of the rain. “I think the weather should be warm and people should come out to watch games.”

The Eunice Bobcats are three-time defending parish baseball champions and Phillips said the tournament should be very exciting and competitive with the teams of the parish battling for bragging rights.

“It should be a very competitive tournament,” Phillips said. “Beau Chene is presently 8-3 and Port Barre has beaten them all.

“We beat Port Barre by one run and Northwest beat Beau Chene in the first game of the year, so this year’s title is up for grabs. You can throw records out the window in the parish tournament.”

The baseball tournament begins 11 a.m. Saturday with No. 3 Beau Chene facing No. 4 Northwest.

No. 2 Port Barre will take on No. 5 Opelousas High at 1 p.m.

Host team and top seed Eunice will face the Beau Chene/Northwest winner at 3 p.m.

The championship is set to begin at 1 p.m. on Sunday.

“I don’t think the teams will throw their best pitcher because everyone is either already in district or district is right around the corner,” Phillips said. “So a lot of things can happen when you throw your number two or three guy out there.

“But I feel anything after our number one pitcher, we are still pretty good,” the Bobcat coach commented. “We are fortunate to have a bunch of guys who can pitch as we have a team ERA of 1.6.”

According to Phillips, there will be a junior varsity tournament beginning on Friday with Eunice, St. Edmund, Port Barre, Notre Dame and Beau Chene competing.

On the girls’ side, Eunice enter the tournament as the defending parish champions but the Lady Cats are battling injuries and the flu bug.

“We are still with out (pitcher) Jori LeJeune and (outfielder) Brittany Faul as neither have played in two weeks,” the coach said. “We also have several kids will the flu and that has really bombarded us the last couple of weeks.

“We were playing well with a 7-1 record but we still have a long stretch of games left.”

Eunice (7-5) is depending on the pitching sisters of Cesly and Kirsten West to help carry the team during LeJeune’s absence.

“Both of them have done a tremendous job for us,” the coach said. “They have improved and have gained valuable pitching experience. We just have to get better defensively and get the timely hits.”

The softball tournament will begin at 10 a.m. Saturday with No. 5 Northwest facing No. 4 Opelousas Catholic.

No. 6 Opelousas High will battle No. 3 Port Barre at 11:40 a.m.

Host team and top seed Lady Cats will take on the Northwest/OC winner at 1:20 p.m.

Second seed Beau Chene will face the OHS/Port Barre winner at 3 p.m.

The two winners of the second round game will square off in the title game set for 5 p.m. Saturday.

“Everyone is concentrating on district in the middle of the week, but we are looking forward to the parish tournament,” Deshotel said. “It is always a good day of softball as we have some quality teams in the parish.

“Any of the top four teams can come out with a parish title,” the Lady Cat coach said. “Beau Chene has an outstanding team and OC beat them earlier this year. Port Barre is really playing their best ball of the year right now and OHS beat Northwest earlier this year. “

Last year the Eunice teams swept the parish as the Bobcats downed Beau Chene 4-2 and the Lady Cats grabbed a 2-0 win over Port Barre for the their first parish title since 2001.