Townsend will host Second District playoff

Published 12:03 am Wednesday, June 24, 2015

LAPLACE — It’s been a productive summer indeed for St. Charles Catholic-based Townsend Homes.

Townsend improved to 8-2 last week with wins in two of three American Legion games, defeating Shaw and Fisher/Thomas Jefferson but falling to Lutcher. It’s allowed Townsend Homes to clinch home field for next week’s Second District playoffs.

At 5 p.m. today, Townsend Homes hosts Hahnville-based Otto Candies in what could will be a postseason preview of the double-elimination tourney. Townsend Homes defeated Otto Candies 3-2 in the first week of Legion action. The two teams are district competitors.

Otto Candies has played deep into the summer perennially under coach David Baudry.

“(Otto Candies) does a lot of things well,” Townsend coach Stein said. “They’ve got a great tradition of winning at Hahnville. They’re using the summer just like we are this year, as a means to prepare for next season. They’re not bringing back the (graduated) seniors. So it’s a pretty even matchup. It will come down to whoever plays well on that particular day.”

Townsend extended a streak of scoreless innings to 21 in wins over Shaw and Fisher/Thomas Jefferson. Evan Pfister tossed a 3-hit shutout in a 2-0 victory over Shaw on June 15. Brady Newman’s 7th inning home run was the offensive highlight for Townsend.

Two days later, Townsend controlled the action in an 8-0 victory over Thomas Jefferson/Fisher June 17. This time it was Brennan Gilberti pitching six shutout innings and allowing three hits. Justin Loupe pitched a scoreless seventh. Loupe went 2 for 4 in the game with an RBI and scored two runs. Newman drove in two runs. Nick Scioneaux, Riley Loupe, Lloyd Nash and Justin Ory also drove in runs.

Townsend could not silence the Lutcher bats on Thursday, though, as LHS won that contest 12-8. Jacob Jensen took his first loss of the summer. Zack Weber went 3 for 4 for Townsend and drove in two runs. Nash, Brandon Lemoine, Ory, Gilberti, Scioneaux and Zach Roussel had RBIs.

Although the scoreless streak ended against Lutcher, Townsend’s pitching has been exceptional for the majority of summer games, a trend dating back into the latter part of the regular season. Stein acknowledged scores are lower during summer partially due to the use of wooden bats, but credited his players nonetheless.

“I don’t care if you’re hitting with a plastic fork, 21 innings without giving up a run is an impressive feat,” Stein said. “In the Lutcher game, we fell behind and battled back from 10-3 to give ourselves a chance. We just didn’t play well. In the summer, it’s about who shows up and is ready to play with some intensity, and we didn’t.”

The district playoffs are scheduled to begin Tuesday.