Catholic League still among state baseball’s bests

    Yes, Barbe defeated both Jesuit and Archbishop Rummel to win its sixth Class 5A championship.
    And, yes, Teurlings Catholic, a team that was banished from the playoffs due to a fighting incident – only to be let back in – shattered Holy Cross’ dream of winning the Class 4A title by a convincing 11-1 score.
    But when you look at high school baseball history in Louisiana, schools that compete in the New Orleans “Catholic League” have enjoyed more success than any of their peers in the Boot.
    Since 1969 when the Louisiana High School Athletic Association held its first championship tournament, thus ending the old home-and-home format, the names of seven schools stand most prominent in the final standings.
    ➤ Jesuit has won seven 5A titles and placed second in six other years. And if you want to travel farther back in time,  the Blue Jays have won 20 state championships dating back to 1933.
    ➤ Rummel has won five championships and has been runner-up five times.
    ➤ De La Salle has claimed two state crowns before dropping down in class.
    ➤ Brother Martin, which advanced to the regional round this year as the No. 8 seed, has two titles and one runner-up finish.
    ➤ Holy Cross was the first tournament champion in 1969, defeating Chalmette, 4-1, a year before Chalmette joined the Catholic League.
    ➤ Eight years later, as a League member, Chalmette placed second again, this time being edged by De La Salle, 6-5.
    ➤ And Archbishop Shaw was runner-up in 1983 following a 1-0 loss to New Iberia.
    The tally to date is a combined 17 class championships and 12 runner-up spots over the last 44 years, and if you do the math, the Catholic League has more than 50 percent of the trophies awarded by the LHSAA. And if you toss in East Jefferson’s three titles in the 1970s and Destrehan’s two runner-up trophies, New Orleans  schools’ percentages inch higher.
Raider Pride prevailed
    Critics said Coach Nick Monica’s Rummel squad would not go far into the playoffs because “they could not hit a baseball.”
    Perhaps they forgot that hitting the rock against the top District 9-5A opponents is among the most difficult tasks in prep ball.
    But few other teams have pitchers of Jesuit’s and Brother Martin’s caliber. Of the 18 pre-district opponents Rummel faced, 17 had winning or break-even records. Among them were six which were among the state’s highest finishers in various classes, including Ruston, Riverside, Holy Cross, Dutchtown, Hahnville and St. Charles Catholic.
    So, it was no surprise to me that the Raiders outhit Barbe, which bunted Jesuit into oblivion in a 4-1 semifinal round win.
    Rummel had numerous opportunities to win but was unable to capitalize on a pair of scoring chances.
    The Raiders had runners on the corners with two outs in the first inning and had a runner in scoring position with one out in the sixth inning. The result was a 3-2 Barbe win.
    Barbe is a baseball power in the Lake Charles area for good reason. When head baseball coach Glenn Cecchini began his tenure, he secured the top players from Calcasieu Parish to participate in his summer All-Star travel team program. Eventually, that All-Star program was responsible for killing American Legion baseball in that part of the state.
    Barbe, which has won six 5A titles under Cecchini since 1998, was the No. 1 tournament seed and  the champion of District 3-5A, which sent three teams (including Lafayette and Acadiana) to Turchin Field.
    And Barbe will continue to get the best players and be a power in the foreseeable future because its deck is stacked.
    And that’s why Rummel can be proud of its accomplishments of defeating Central Lafourche, Fontainebleau, Hahnville and Acadiana to make it to the championship game, where Raider Pride was well-represented in a large Mother’s Day crowd wearing red.
Reversal of fortune
    Holy Cross also had a remarkable run in the Class 4A playoffs, getting past Franklinton, South Terrebonne, Lutcher and top-seeded St. Thomas More before losing to Teurlings Catholic in the championship game in Sulphur by virtue of the 10-run rule in the sixth inning.
    Teurlings Catholic and Zachary had been placed on restrictive probation in baseball and barred from the playoffs as the result of a brawl that took place on March 17 during a tournament game in Monroe.
    In an effort to regain the good graces of the LHSAA, officials from the two schools issued self-imposed suspensions on the players involved and forbade the parents who also jumped into the fray from future games.
    In a highly controversial reversal, the LHSAA executive committee voted 9-5 to reduce the sanctions for Teurlings Catholic, giving the Lafayette school the opportunity to compete in the playoffs if it qualified.
    Teurlings Catholic did indeed qualify as the No. 7 seed and, in order, dispatched Pearl River, 8-3; St. Michael, 16-6; St. Louis, 6-5; and Neville, 10-5, to make it to the finals.
    Holy Cross (26-11) took a 1-0 lead in the third inning,  in which it got its only hit of the game. The Rebels then went to work, scoring three runs in each of the fourth and fifth innings, and then added five runs in the sixth to close out the blitz.
    Ron Brocato can be reached at rbrocato@clarionherald.org.