By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

EDGARD – After escaping an early season District 8-1A clash with Ascension Christian with a 21-17 victory, West St. John coach Brandon Dumas decided to borrow an approach from the Lions for Wednesday’s rematch.

“They were very aggressive against us,” said Dumas. “It really helped them to stay in the game. So today, I wanted us to imitate that and turn the tables.”

The coach was a happy man as his team made another stride toward returning to the postseason in 2010, winning 16-1 in three innings by the 15-run rule.

“We wanted to take care of business early,” said Dumas. “All I asked was that we put it in play, and we definitely hit the ball today.”

Jasmine Young scored the 16th and clinching run on a Lions error, capping a five-run third inning for West St. John.

Ascension Catholic scored to take a 1-0 lead in the first inning, but from there it was all Rams.

Taj Howard tied the game 1-1 when she scored on a passed ball. Two more runs scored on a Ascension Christian error to make it 3-1, then Young socked a single to bring home another run, making it 4-1.

A wild pitch plated Janade Williams to push the lead to 5-1.

West St. John (8-6, 5-6) retired the Lions’ side in order, then went back to work in the second inning.

Ormoni Favorite drew a walk, stole two bases then scored on a passed ball. Taj Howard repeated that feat to make it 7-1. With two on and no outs, Williams stepped to the plate and provided the game’s most memorable highlight, a three-run inside-the-park home run that she launched to deep right field, making it 10-1.

“It felt good,” said Williams. “That’s something I wanted all year. I thought I’d be stopping at third, but I ended up making it all the way around.”

West St. John used a bit of trickery for its 11th run, when Kori Hebert drew a walk then immediately took off for second base, getting caught in a run down — but that allowed Shalcey Sterlin to score from third to make it 11-1.

“We definitely worked on pushing the baserunning in certain situations in practice,” said Dumas. “The girls did a pretty good job there.”

An RBI single by Chasity Everson made it 12-1 in the third, and Deveny Batiste made it 14-1 when she singled up the middle to plate two runs. West St. John would score its final two runs on an Ascension Christian error.

WEST ST. JOHN 24, EAST IBERVILLE 7 – The Rams concluded district play with a lopsided win over East Iberville that it blew wide open in the fourth inning in Edgard.

The teams were tied after each of the first three innings. But with the score knotted 6-6, West St. John allowed no runs in the top of the fourth, then piled up 17 runs in the bottom half to clinch the victory by the 15-run rule.

Favorite went 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs. Williams also went 4-for-4 with a home run and four RBIs, and Batiste was 3-for-3 with two RBIs. Batiste also earned the win on the mound.

West St. John (9-6, 6-6) finishes district play in fourth place and may need a strong finish to secure a Class 1A wildcard spot. The Rams have three non-district games left, including a clash with Central Catholic Tuesday and a doubleheader with Bethany Christian on Thursday.

“We’ve been in the playoffs a couple times in a row now and the girls want to continue that streak,” said Dumas. “They know what it takes, now it’s a matter of proving it.”