By DAVID FOLSE II

Sports Editor

LAPLACE-Taking part in one of the more prestigious tournaments in the area, the Louisiana Blaze, a local 14 and under girls’ softball team, took home the second place trophy after finishing the tournament with a 7-3 record.

Composed mostly of girls who will or already attending St. Charles Catholic, the Blaze defeated St. Bernard, 2-0 and 9-0, the Baton Rouge Freeze, 14-0, the Brusly Bayou Gators, 2-0, the Heat, 6-5, the Hahnville Hurricanes, 2-1 and the Riverside Rebels, 4-0.

The only two losses on the field came at the hands of the Marrero Spice, 3-1 and 3-0 in the championship game. The third was due to forfeiture.

“For us to finish in second place and win seven games after only four practices was impressive,” Head Coach Barry Reine said. “The girls came a long way in four practices and then just heading out onto the field.

“They had an excellent tournament and all played together. Their hard work really showed off.”

A “feeder program” for the state runners-up in Class 3A, Reine said he and the rest of the coaches prepare the girls for the rigors of high school softball and what it will take to be successful.

“We have had these girls together and on the same team since they were about seven years old,” Reine said. “We bring them through the ranks and then we turn them over to the high school coaching staff.

“Hopefully they have enough fundamentals behind them that they can compete to play their first couple of seasons.”

Behind Ashley Trosclair’s in the circle, who finished 4-1 and the trio of Katie Reine, Emily Bourgeois and Megan Musacchio, who all had solid performances at the plate, the Blaze are a very talented squad.

“Ashley is a really good pitcher,” Reine said. “She is young and really coming along. She is starting to increase her speed and starting to develop more pitches. She is throwing more pitches that she didn’t even have last season and most importantly has control of them.

“Katie is hitting lead-off for us and she has plenty of speed,” Reine said. “She knows how to get on base. Emily does a good job bunting and then driving in runs for us. Megan has good power and she can run the bases well for us. She is our cleanup hitter who can drive in the runs for us. She can really put the bat on the ball.”