By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

Two of the four teams left on the diamond in the 2A playoffs are from St. John parish with St. Charles and Riverside. And barring upset, both will be around for the state championship Wednesday afternoon at ULM’s Indian Field in Monroe.

Hahnville, Destrehan and Lutcher all have a legitimate shot at streaking into the playoff game. Lutcher is one game away from a chance at the title after capturing district 10-3A and making it through Loranger and Berwick in the first two rounds. HHS and DHS skated through Ellender and Higgins respectively and actually have a chance to meet for the state championship set for this weekend at ULL.

That says a lot about the baseball that local fans have been watching.

That theme continued after Riverside advanced through Sterlington with a win in Reserve and St. Charles traveled for a tense one that went to an 11-8 final in favor of the Comets.

Next up, the Comets and Rebels must get through Ouchita Christian and Menard respectively. Ouachita is returning to the 2A semi-finals for the sixth consecutive year for their third straight title so the Comets don’t exactly have a cake-walk on their hands. Riverside was bounced by Ouchita last year in an 8-5 final.

Similarly, St. Charles knows something about Menard since they were in 3A with the Comets previous to this year’s re-districting. The Eagles met the Comets two years ago in an extra innings semi-final game that saw SCC advance with a 4-3 win. This season Menard started off slowly with a 3-11 record, but turned things around and went undefeated through district 3-2A.

The 2A semi-finals games were set for Tuesday afternoon with the winners advancing to the championship tonight. The 3A and 5A finals are set for this weekend after the quarterfinals round. Lutcher, Hahnville and Destrehan all have games set for mid-week. Those results were unavailable as of press time.