Berthelot and Clark’s bat, Beaugh’s arm, put Destrehan in four-way tie for first place

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, March 16, 2005

BY DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

DESTREHAN-Usually when you are only able to scrape across three hits in a high school softball game, it means you are on the end of the scoreboard that you don’t want to be on.

However, Destrehan made their hits count, as the Lady Wildcats scored three runs on only three hits in a 3-0 defeat of Central Lafourche on Saturday.

The win puts the Lady Wildcats (12-5-3, 4-1) in a four-wa tie for first place in district 6-5A.

Destrehan put a pair of runs on the board in the first inning and one in the fifth inning and that was all they needed against Central Lafourche.

Courtney Berthelot led the Lady Wildcats at the plate, going 1-3 with a run driven in. Shannon Clark also had a solid afternoon at the plate, going 1-2 with a run driven in.

While Berthelot and Clark were providing all the punch offensively, sophomore star Julianne Beaugh was making the three runs stick up in the circle.

Still recovering from an injury and not 100-percent yet, Beaugh picked up the complete-game shutout victory, allowing only one hit and striking out five.

“Julianne pitched one of her better games,” Destrehan Head Coach Russell Shaw said. “She really stepped up and pitched well when we didn’t hit the ball as well as we wanted to.

“We played great defense behind her. Basically, the best thing about it was that my kids showed up behind her and were ready to play. They understood that we were playing for a first-place tie in the district and they accepted the challenge and took care of business.”

Happy with his ace’s performance in the circle, Shaw said she is back, sort of.

“Yes and no,” Shaw said. “We are still monitoring her. We don’t want the injury to come back, but as of right now, yes she is healthy.”

Despite only getting three hits, all three were key hits, something the Lady Wildcats have struggled to get in key situations in the past.

“You can never have enough runs,” Shaw said. “The fact of the matter is that you only have to score one more than the opponent, so we are happy that we did enough to come away with the victory.

“We did what we have to do to win.”