RA’s Vicknair leads All-Parish

Published 11:45 pm Friday, May 24, 2013

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – Riverside pitcher Destin Vicknair has collected a lot of victories over the past five seasons.

She’s also made a habit of collecting MVP awards.

Vicknair leads L’Observateur’s All-St. John Parish Softball Team for the third consecutive season as its Most Valuable Player in 2013 after leading the Rebels to a finish as Class 2A state runner-up.

Vicknair leads a group of five Rebels who qualified for this year’s squad after going 24-7 with a 0.875 ERA. She struck out a whopping 268 batters against an unforgiving slate of opponents. She also turned in her typically stout run production with the bat: a .486 batting average, 32 RBIs and three home runs.

Riverside coach Kristy Hebert is this season’s St. John Coach of the Year, after leading the Rebels to a record of 28-8 over a slate of games that included 21 matchups against teams that reached the state softball tournament in Sulphur, nine against teams seeded first or second in their respective bracket.

They are joined by fellow Rebels Taylor Terrio, Erica Delaneuville, Toni Hebert and Katie Bailey. Those four combined to drive in 88 runs with a collective batting average of over .470.

St. Charles Catholic sees three players earn spots: Chelsea Loupe, Karli Terrio and Destiny Wesley. Loupe and Terrio are seniors that earned trips to Sulphur in each of their years with the Comets, helping extend St. Charles’  streak of consecutive tournament visits to nine. Wesley, meanwhile, led the Comets in batting and slugging in just her freshman year.

West St. John set numerous new program records offensively this season and fell just short of reaching the postseason. The Rams’ Tajh Melancon makes her third straight appearance on the All-Parish team after batting. 450 with five home runs this season.

East St. John’s Shaela Millet earned the respect of her teammates and opponents alike this season, both with her play at shortstop and with her ability to swing the bat. She hit over .500 this season and rounds out the All-Parish squad.