By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

The returning players of the East St. John-based Wildcat Baseball summer team entered play this week with something to prove.

East St. John finished last in District 6-5A this prep season, something that many on the team felt wasn’t an indication of their talent level.

Their play on Tuesday was closer to the message they’d like to send. Wildcat Baseball defeated Riverside-based Fatty’s Restaurant, 12-2, at East St. John.

“We just feel like last year wasn’t us,” said the Wildcats’ Donald Goff, who doubled twice and had three RBIs. “We’re better than that, and we’re out to prove a point.”

Wildcat Baseball Coach Ryan Sims said that things aren’t exactly perfect yet, but that he likes the progress he sees.

“We still made mistakes out there,” said Sims. “But it was better today. And we were definitely better on the mound.”

Heading a group of four pitchers on the day was Brighton Trepagnier (1-0) who went four innings and allowed one run on two hits.

“I felt alright for the first day pitching,” said Trepagnier, who is expected to head the team’s rotation this summer and next prep season. “We could have done a bit better, but we’ll be alright by the middle of the summer.”

Sims said Trepagnier’s willingness to pound the strike zone led to positive things for the starter.

“When you get ahead, hitters will get themselves out,” Sims said.

For Fatty’s Restaurant (0-1), the loss came in the team’s summer opener.

Fatty’s Coach Britt Waguespack says that the summer will be used to revamp a team that loses three key seniors from the middle of its order – Jade Falgoust, Wade Delaneuville and Timmy Teague. The former duo also comprised the team’s top two pitchers in prep season.

“We’re very young,” Waguespack said. “We haven’t practiced much as of yet. But at the same time, we have some real good players and team chemistry. We’re gonna see how it goes this summer.”

Wildcat Baseball led 4-1 after two innings, but truly busted things open in the third. After back-to-back singles by Justin Howard and Goff, Josh Brown’s double brought both runners home to make it 6-1.

Jarvis Johnson’s RBI double would make it 7-1 later that inning.

Neither team would get on the board in the fourth, but the Wildcats struck again in the fifth, when Goff scored on a wild pitch by Fatty’s Dylan Becnel. Shane Nicholson’s RBI single a short time later made it 9-1.

The Rebels would add a run in the sixth, to cut it to 9-2, but never made a serious push.

For Goff, the performance couldn’t have come at a better time.

“After how devastating our district season was for us, it feels great to come out and get a win,” he said.