Lady Eagles start season late, look to hit stride in district

Vermilion Catholic’s Lady Eagles softball team starts the season in an unconventional way compared to most teams.
That’s the only downfall of having a small school that has a successful girls basketball team. With the basketball squad taking North Central to the brink in the state championship this year and Kim Guidry’s squad is always a threat to make a title run, it seems only logical for Guidry to schedule the start of the softball team later so her team can be at full strength.
“For us, the season overlaps and we have players who play both,” Guidry said. “We try not to schedule anything until district starts. It puts us at a disadvantage as far as softball is concerned because everybody else has been playing and practicing for a few weeks.”
Guidry’s basketball team finished its season in the quarterfinals after a loss to Arcadia last year and the softball squad started the season nearly two weeks ahead of this year’s softball team.
Last year’s team, led by a trio of seniors including Katie Frith and Ellen Langlinais, finished the year with a 11-13 record before losing to Hanson as a No. 22 seed in the first round of the playoffs.
With Frith and company gone, Guidry said the pitching on her team will be the key. Kayla Abshire will lead the Lady Eagles on the mound after Kelly White suffered a broken thumb March 18 against Ascension Episcopal, which required surgery and put her on the shelf for most likely the rest of the season.
“Some of the girls are real troopers,” Guidry said. “They play both sports and give it everything they have. Jesse (Faulk) and I work together with the girls and share the athletes so that both sports can succeed.”
Despite White’s injury in the early part of the year, the Lady Eagles have started the year with a 5-4 record, including a 10-1 win over district rival Lafayette Christian Academy Monday. The Eagles most lopsided margin of victory came in the game aginst Ascension Episcopal with a 15-0 victory.
The season is nine games in for VC, but Guidry said she thinks her team is equally talented on the mound and at the plate.
“I think we’ll be able to compete on both levels,” she said. “We have the numbers which helps us compete and the girls work hard.”
The Lady Eagles next contest is at home today against Abbeville.