Lady Patriots get revenge, edge Kaplan 5-2

The North Vermilion Lady Patriots softball team claimed revenge over the Kaplan Lady Pirates Thursday afternoon with a 5-2 win.

North Vermilion (21-3, 7-1) jumped out to a 2-0 lead, and held off Kaplan (15-3, 7-1) with timely hits and the pitching of North Vermilion ace Hannah Vidallier.

“It feels pretty good,” Vidallier said with a chuckle. “I think after they beat us the last time, it lit a fire under us and we really knew we had to come back and have everything together to win.”

Kaplan edged North Vermilion in Leroy eight days ago by a 4-2 score.

“We weren’t really thinking about it as a revenge win,” said North Vermilion head coach Joy LeBlanc. “We’re just trying to play our game and get all of our elements where they need to be defensively and offensively. Each game we’re trying to get better; it was good for us to come out here and play solid defense and hit well and pitch well.”

After catcher Demi Boudreaux earned two RBIs for the Lady Patriots to start the scoring, Adele Vincent drove in another run in the top of the fifth on a triple to center field.

Kaplan quickly responded with two runs in the bottom half of the fifth on a two-out double off the center-field wall by Lindsey Schexnailder to cut Kaplan’s deficit to 3-2.

Vidallier got the Lady Patriots out of the jam and Vincent earned her second RBI of the game in the seventh with single. First baseman Claire Meyers hit a bloop single over third base two batters later to score another run and give North Vermilion the 5-2 advantage.

“I think we executed better than we did the last time,” LeBlanc said. “Kaplan is a really good team and you can’t give them anything. 

“I think mentally it was good for the team coming off of a loss like we had and to come out here and play well. Not just win, but we played well and didn’t get down on ourselves mentally and physically. We just wanted to come out here and have a good feeling about what we put out there today.”

The Lady Pirates return to action Tuesday at home against Abbeville and the Lady Patriots will be on the road Tuesday at Notre Dame.