MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / Febuary 22, 1999

RESERVE – Riverside’s softball diamond will have a new look this season with the dugouts being enclosed, a new press box and a new sound system.

The team that will play on that field will also have a new look. Fourstarters return from the 1998 Class 2A runners-up but only two will be playing in the same positions they did last year. And where in the past, theLady Rebels were a bunt and run team, this team looks to have more power than those in the past.

But one constant remains and it is a big one – senior pitcher Tanya Teague.

Teague was dominating on the mound a year ago, being named the District 9-2A MVP after going 24-7 with a .46 earned run average and 170strikeouts in 139 innings.

Teague has already picked up where she left off, striking out 16 of 22 batters and allowing just one hit in blanking Belle Chasse, 5-0, in the season opener Monday.

“The second batter hit a double but she started mowing them down after that,” Riverside coach Matt White said.

Teague followed up that performance with a two-hit shutout of Assumption Thursday.

Teague’s battery mate, Katie Brady also returns for her senior year. Bradyis the team’s leading returning hitter, batting .415 with 26 runs batted inlast year. With Brady out with a cold Monday, junior Brandi Falgoust filledin and went 2-for-3 with two RBIs.

Teague, Brady, Courtney St. Amant and Ashley Bourgeois are the only fourseniors on this year’s squad. St. Amant, who batted .345 with 19 RBIs lastseason, is moving from third base to first with Bourgeois moving from second base to the outfield.

“Tanya, Katie, Courtney and Ashley will lead the way,” White said. “Theywill carry the way for the younger girls.”White will indeed have a young team with the entire outfield from last year needing to be replaced. Gone are Melissa Martin, Marcy Remondet andBridget Lambert. Prospective starter Jennifer Guidry suffered an injurywhile playing basketball and will miss the 1999 season.

With Bourgeois still playing basketball, White is starting an all- sophomore outfield. White said he is looking to rotate an outfield ofBourgeois, Falgoust and sophomores Vanessa Taromina, Cassie St. Amantand Kelly Louque once everybody returns.

The infield will also have a new look. Junior Nicole Lambert takes over forBourgeois at second. St. Amant is replacing all-River Parishes selectionMandy Roussel at first. Junior Aimee Graugnard will replace St. Amant atthird with sophomore Heidi Richard stepping up to fill the shortstop role left open by the graduation of Amy Trepagnier.

Lambert and Louque are battling for the second spot behind Teague.

Freshman Summer Delaneuville has also looked impressive in junior varsity games.

White said everybody looked hitting the ball against Belle Chasse. TheLady Rebels had nine hits, including a couple off the fence, and had a couple of hard hit balls that were caught. White said how the team hitswill determine how far they will go.

“With Tanya, that is a great place to start,” White said. “If she does likewe think she will do, we will be where we want to be at the end. Theyounger girls have to continue to get better. If they do, we will be rightthere at the end.”Riverside is coming off a 26-8 season in which it won the District 9-2A title with a 10-0 record. The Lady Rebels advanced to the statechampionship game where they fell to St. Charles Catholic, 2-1. Whitesaid just being there in Alexandria will help this year’s team.

“The experience we gained from the championship game, just being there,” White said. “But there is no pressure on these girls. They are having funand working hard every day.”Riverside hosts Redemp-torist today at 1 p.m. The Lady Rebels travel toSt. Martin’s March 11 to open district play.

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