By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

After losses in each of its first two games last week, the East St. John Lady Wildcats rebounded in a big way on the softball diamond, securing the Thibodaux tournament championship on Saturday with a 4-0 win in the finals over the hosting Tigers.

“The girls were very excited,” said East St. John Coach Monica Hebert. “Coming off the way the last game went at St. Charles, it was a great way to bounce back.”

Stacy Sutton and Lacy Sutton each had an RBI single for the Wildcats in the championship game. Krista Pamplain and Seymone McKinney each had an RBI as well.

Sutton (2-2) took the win, throwing a shutout in three complete innings (each game in the tournament was three innings in length).

To get to the finals, the Wildcats had to defeat E.D. White on Friday, and Houma Christian and Ellender on Saturday.

Pamplain (2-1) started the opening game against E.D. White, and recorded her first win of the season after notching three scoreless innings.

Pamplain also went 1-for-3 with an RBI.

Troyonne Kendrick went 2-for-3 with an RBI. Sutton went 1-for-3 with two RBIs, and McKinney was 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

East St. John scored a run in each of the first two innings before closing out its scoring with four runs in the top of the third.

In Saturday’s first game, East St. John’s pitching remained sharp, but its bats did not – it had to settle for a 0-0 tie in pool play with Houma Christian.

“As much as I was disappointed to not score and get the win, at least we held them with our pitching and defense.

Sutton gave up two hits over three innings.

The Ladycats’ hitting wasn’t dormant for long, though. A 13-0 win over Ellender secured their trip to the championship game.

Pamplain gave up one hit over her three innings of work, and could relax a bit as her team piled on the run support.

    McKinney had three RBIs, and Lacy Sutton had two.

    Hebert said that her team banded together after falling into a 0-2 hole.

    “I kept telling them that if they play as a team, good things will happen for us,” said Hebert. “They communicated and cheered together during the game. Everyone hit for us. It was a wonderful feeling.”

    The Wildcats’ winning streak ended at three though, when host Higgins took a 7-3 win over ESJ on Tuesday.

    Pamplain took the loss on the mound.

    Stacy Sutton led East St. John at the plate by going 2-for-3 with two RBIs. Ariana Hollins went 2-for-3, including a triple, and a RBI.

    “We started to adjust to their pitcher too late in the game, not early on like we did over the weekend,” said Hebert.