MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / April 14, 2000

DESTREHAN – Unlike past Destrehan-East St. John games at Destrehan,Wednesday’s matchup between the two teams was a low-hit affair.

But Destrehan was able to piece enough of those hits together along with four East St. John errors to pull away to a 13-3 five-inning victory in District7-5A play.

Destrehan (14-12 overall) remained a game back of district-leading Hahnville at 7-1. East St. John is in fourth place in the district with a 3-5 record and is7-16 overall.

“Two weeks ago I said we were not supposed to be here,” Destrehan coach Mark Willoughby said. “Now, we’re here and we’re ready to play. The kidsbelieve that and that was our goal. The kids deserve this. They’ve workedhard for it.” Nathan Maggiore (3-5) went the distance for Destrehan, giving up three hits and two earned runs while walking five and striking out two. Mike Brown (2-6)took the loss for East St. John, allowing seven runs, six earned on three hitswhile walking four and striking out seven in 3 2/3 innings.

East St. John opened the scoring in the first as Tie Reese lined a two-outhome run over the left-center field wall.

Destrehan came back to tie the game in the second. With one out, DonnieHollis walked, stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Craig Naquinfollowed by getting hit by a pitch. Naquin was then caught off first by Brown.Hollis broke for home and beat Darwin Pittman’s throw, allowing Naquin to reach second.

A walk by Danny Krieger and a hit by pitch by Todd Picou loaded the bases with two outs before Brown got out of the jam by striking out Marty Boudreaux.

Destrehan went ahead for good in the third. Mike Catalano and Randy Rothopened the inning with singles to left. Maggiore then laid down a bunt toBrown and was ruled safe at first on the throw, loading the bases. Catalanocame home with the go-ahead run as Reese threw wide of first on a pickoff attempt. A balk would send Roth home, giving Destrehan a 3-1 lead.East St. John cut the deficit to 3-2 in the top of the fourth. Reese startedthe inning with a walk and courtesy runner Brandon Brown went to second an out later as Mervin Williams reached on a throwing error by Boudreaux. LouisGardner followed by lining a single to left. Brown scored but Williams wascaught off second for the second out. Randy Sutherland then lined a doubleto left-center, sending Gardner to third, but Maggiore got Terron Charles to fly out to center to end the inning.

Destrehan broke the game open with six runs in the bottom of the inning.

With one out, Picou reached on an error by Charles. After Catalano was hitby a pitch, Roth lined a run-scoring single to left. Walks by Maggiore andHollis drove in another run to make it 5-2.

Marshall came in to pitch and walked Jeff Vitrano, driving in Roth for a four- run lead. Pinch-hitter Shane LeBoyd then lined a pitch into the left fieldcorner for a triple, clearing the bases to give the Wildcats a 9-2 advantage.

East St. John added a run in the fifth as Brandon Mason walked and stolesecond. Roydell Williams was hit by a pitch and Reese walked to load thebases. Mason scored on a balk by Maggiore to make it 9-3. Maggiore thencame back to strike out Pittman and Williams to end the inning.

“Any time they could have exploded,” Willoughby said. “It was 9-2 with oneout and with one mistake, it could have been 9-6.”Destrehan closed out the game in the fifth. Picou led the inning with a singleto left and Larry McVay followed with a walk. Reese came in to pitch andafter a wild pitch, Catalano dropped a double just inside the right field line for two runs. Reese hit Roth with a pitch but struck out the next two hitters.Vitrano then lined a single to right, scoring two runs to make it 13-3.

“Prior to the game, I told the team that every time East St. John played atDestrehan, there had always been a hero,” East St. John coach Nick Mitchellsaid. “I knew going into today’s game, we needed to put nine heros on thefield. The kids played hard. Mike pitched a really good game. We just made toomany errors. Two plays here and there and the game is totally different.”

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