It was what both Weston head coach Joey Kemp and Quitman skipper Joe Lockhart hoped for. That their team would be playing their best ball entering what should be the district 2B deciding series between the two Jackson Parish rivals.
Weston, ranked second in Division V among ‘non-select” schools won four games in four days this past week to run their overall record to 13-9 on the year, while Quitman rolled to three victories to improve to 10-6 this season and move up to #8 in the power rankings.
The first of the two all important contests takes place on Monday, March 25th on Field 4 of the Jackson Parish Recreation Department Sports Complex. The two will battle again a day later on Tuesday at Quitman High School
Both enter the district battle with 2-0 records in 2B play with Weston having defeated Doyline twice this past week and Quitman topping Castor two times. Both games are set to begin at 6:00 pm.
Wednesday, March 20th
Weston 9 Choudrant 2: Braden Theriot and Colton Blundell hit back-to-back “jacks” in the first inning as Weston plated four run en-route to the easy victory over their former district foe. Drew Browning also went “yard” for the Wolves and scored three runs. Tait Henderson gave up just one earned run and struck out 8 in 6.2 innings of work to earn the victory.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
| Choudrant (6-12) | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 7 | 2 |
| Weston (11-9) | 4 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 10 | 1 |
HR – Browning, Theriot, Blundell
RBI – Theriot, Browning, Blundell, Zehr, T. Henderson
Runs – Browning 3, Zehr, Theriot, Blundell, Delaney, J. Henderson
Steals – Zehr, Browning, Delaney, Blundell
Thursday, March 21st
Quitman 12 Castor 2: The Wolverines opened district 2b play by scoring five runs in the first inning to pave the way to an overwhelming 12-2 victory over Castor. Pete Simonelli went 4/4, drove in a run and stole a base, while Hudson Pullig went 2/3 drove in 3, scored twice and stole another of the 11 bases swiped by the Wolverines. Kace West smashed a pair of doubles, scored twice and drove in a run and Logan Ponder had the most steals with four that led to the two runs he scored. John Raegan Hasley contributed a pair of hits as well that helped his cause on the mound where he took the victory after limiting Castor to just one earned run and four hits. Braden Hobbs also came up big by scoring twice, driving in a pair and stealing a base and Asher Burns chipped in with two stolen bases and two runs scored and Hunter Ayres rounded out the scoring by crossing home plate twice.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
| Quitman (9-6. 1-0) | 5 | 0 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 1 | 12 | 13 | 2 | |
| Castor (3-8. 0-1) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 4 | 3 |
2B – West 2, Pullig
RBI – Pullig 3, Hobbs 2, Duck, West, Tilley, Simonelli
Runs – Ponder 2, Pullig 2, West 2, Hobbs 2, Burns 2, Ayres 2
Steals – Ponder 4, Burns 2, R. Duck, Hobbs, Simonelli, West, Pullig
Weston 6 Doyline 5: Colton Blundell stroked a single to center field that scored Drew Williams and give Weston the walk-off victory. The victory was especially sweet as Weston had to rally from a 5-4 deficit in the bottom of the seventh inning to tie the game after giving up a grand slam to Doyline in the top of the inning. It was Blundell that also played a key role in Weston tying the score to send the contest into extra innings as he walked and went to third on a wild pitch and a passed ball before scoring on an error by the Doyline pitcher. Drew Browning got the win in relief of Tayt Culpepper who didn’t allow a hit in 6.1 innings of work but was the victim of an error and two walks late that put the runners on base before the big home run by Doyline. Braden Theriot got a pair of hits, including a double and knocked in two while Browning walked three times and scored twice. Cooper Delaney added a double and scored a run and Layton Garrett scored and stole a base.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | R | H | E |
| Doyline (7-8, 0-2) | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 5 | 1 | 2 |
| Weston (12-9, 2-0) | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 6 | 6 | 3 |
2B – Delaney, Theriot
RBI – Theriot 2, Zehr, Blundell, Culpepper
Runs – Browning, Blundell, Delaney, Williams, Garrett
Steals – Garrett
Friday, March 22
Weston 10 Union 0: Braden Theriot smashed a home run and a double to drive in three runs and Bryce Zehr chipped in with a single and a double, scored three times and collected two RBI as Colton Blundell struck out 10 in firing a two hit shutout. Drew Browning also hit a “two bagger”, scored twice and drove in a run, while Sawyer Watkins walked twice and scored. Layton Garrett also scored three times and stole a base.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Union (4-13) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 |
| Weston (13-9) | 3 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 5 | 2 |
2B – Zehr, Browning, Theriot
HR – Theriot
RBI – Theriot 3, Zehr 2, Browning, Blundell, Delaney, Gill
Runs – Zehr 3, Garrett 3, Browning 2, Theriot, Watkins
Steals – T. Henderson 2, Garrett, Blundell
Saturday, March 23
Quitman 10 Castor 0: Ian Tilley and Hayden Davis combined for a one hit shutout as Maddox Duck stole two bases and Kace West three to go with their two hits, two runs scored and 2 RBI to pace Quitman to the “mercy rule” victory. Logan Ponder also got a pair of hits including a double, scored a run and knocked one in while Hudson Pullig stole three bases, scored twice and got two RBI. John Raegan Hasley also chipped in with a hit and two runs scored to help Quitman move beat Castor for the second time in three days.
| TEAM | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | R | H | E |
| Castor (3-9, 0-2) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
| Quitman (10-6, 2-0) | 2 | 1 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 10 | 9 | 0 |
2B – Ponder
RBI – Pullig 2, West 2, M. Duck 2, Hobbs, Ponder
Runs – Hasley 2, Pullig 2, West 2, M. Duck 2, Ponder, Harts
Steals – Pullig 3, West 2, M. Duck 2, Harts, Hobbs, Hasley