By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

NEW ROADS — West St. John returned once again to the Class 1A playoffs, but as the 32nd seed, the Lady Rams drew a tough assignment in top-seeded False River.

The Rams hung tough early on. But a third inning explosion of runs by the Gators propelled False River to a 15-0 win in three innings over WSJ, sending them to the regional round.

The game was called because of the 15-run rule.

West St. John (8-12) trailed just 1-0 after two innings, False River (23-4) scored its lone run after a Rams’ error.

“But the bottom fell out after that,” said West St. John coach Brandon Dumas. “We played with them early and I’m proud of that. We were playing pretty well until we hit the third. One error turned into two, and it snowballed from there.”

Dumas said he knew the matchup was daunting before taking the field.

“When you draw the number one team … we knew we had to play flawless softball,” said Dumas. “It just got away from us.”

Dumas said that a big plus this season for the Rams was the valuable experience gained by its young players. West St. John started four eighth graders this season.

“They’ll be that much more seasoned next year. We’ve got some girls that could be good players here for a long time,” said Dumas.

Conversely, four key seniors will depart, leaving voids to be filled: Ormoni Favorite, Jasmine Young, Brittany Tuco and Chasity Everson.

“They’ve been each starting for the last three or four years and have been instrumental in helping to lift our program,” said Dumas. “We’ll miss all of them.”