Despite hot start, Tarpons hope to rediscover winning ways

Early on in the district baseball slate, the South Lafourche Tarpons appeared to be on top of their game.

Head coach Kit Laird and the team were getting everything they needed to succeed – good pitching, solid hitting and mistake-free defense – helping the team to slowly climb in the district standings.

They had jumped into a three-way tie with South Terrebonne and Thibodaux and were quietly becoming a sleeper team in District 8-5A.

Two weeks later, however, things had taken a complete 180-degree turn for the feisty Tarpons.

After starting off 5-2 in district, the Tarpons had slowly begun to drop in the standings.

Their struggles have led them to posting a 6-5 overall record in district.

It started with their 6-1 loss to Thibodaux on April 14 and continued two days later with a 9-3 loss to Central Lafourche.

Now, the Tarpons find themselves in fourth place overall and must continue treading water to stay afloat.

“We’ve made too many errors,” Laird said. “We can’t do that. The teams are capitalizing off of our mistakes and it’s costing us in games.”

In the loss against Thibodaux, the Tarpons had three errors in the fourth inning, amounting to four Tiger runs.

The Tarpons repeated the mishaps in the loss to the Trojans and now have their backs against the wall with the season ending tomorrow.

So what’s next for the Tarpons?

Laird said his team is going to continue to fight until the final pitch of the season.

With district ending tomorrow, all that is left is for the team to play the waiting game after tomorrow’s matchup against H.L. Bourgeois.

With a strong finish and a little help from the other teams in the district, the Tarpons’ playoff dreams are not completely shattered, but not completely clear either.

“We knew the race for district would come down to the end,” he said. “We’re not going to quit. We are going to play hard until the game is over tomorrow.”

The team ended their slump last week with a 1-0 victory over the Terrebonne Tigers to keep their playoff hopes alive. With little room for error, Laird was pleased with the way his team responded.

The Tarpons’ Alex Parra held the Tigers’ bats in check, allowing only four hits. The win improved the team’s record to 6-4 in district with a 14-11 overall record.

A big key in the win was the fact that the Tarpons eliminated the errors that had plagued them in their four district losses. They returned to the play that helped them climb into first place at one point.

“We needed to go back to playing like we were when district first started. We needed a solid effort from everyone to stay in it. It’s something we were capable of. “

“If we can keep it going in the season finale, then who knows what can happen. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

Laird said he hoped Parra’s performance continued to be strong. Thomas Schwertz has also been solid on the mound for the Tarpons.

However, mistakes plagued the team again in an 11-5 loss to Assumption last Thursday. With his team’s back against the wall now more than ever, Laird said he just hopes the Tarpons can finish strong.

“We just hadn’t got the clutch hits in those losses,” Laird said. “If we can get those timely hits to back up our decent pitching, then we can stay competitive. If we can get in the playoffs, it’s a whole new season. It’s a fresh start.”

South Lafourche’s Thomas Schwertz delivers a pitch against the Thibodaux Tigers earlier in the season. After getting off to a hot 5-2 start in district, the Tarpons have stumbled, going 1-3 in their last four games. * Photo by KYLE CARRIER