By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

EDGARD — West St. John’s softball team has played the early stages of this season short-handed, with a number of players only this week getting back into the swing of things after the Lady Rams’ postseason basketball run.

But those on the Rams roster through the first seven games kept their team afloat, West St. John splitting a pair of games last week to move to 3-4 this season.

That included an impressive 17-8 non-district victory last Wednesday over Donaldsonville for coach Brandon Dumas’ team, one that saw the Rams blow open a tied, 8-8 game with a nine-run effort in the bottom of the fourth inning.

“We were able to be a bit more aggressive, run a little bit more,” said WSJ coach Brandon Dumas. “On the offensive side of it, we made some things happen at the plate.”

The game was called due to darkness in the fifth.

Both Tre’Shaun Trench and Kaieonne Sorapuru had inside-the-park home runs and went 3-for-4. Trench collected four RBIs, while Sorapuru had two. Breion Sorapuru went 4-for-4 with two RBIs.

Tajhanek Howard earned the win on the mound for WSJ.

Dumas said that the players from the basketball team were in uniform for that game and for Thursday’s district game, a 15-0 loss to Ascension Catholic. They did not start, as Dumas said they needed some time to get their timing back down in practice — and also to earn their playing time.

“Everyone will compete for their spot,” said Dumas. “The girls that have been here through the first few weeks have a chance to fight for their positions. Everyone pushing and competing with one another only makes us a better team and makes them better players.

“We’re not where we expected to be at this point, but we’ve done a decent job of hanging around. There’s a lot of softball left.”