MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / March 31, 1999

RESERVE – The Cardiac Cats are back.

East St. John, which played a number of games that went down to the wirelast season in district play, did it again Saturday afternoon as Roydell Williams’ single in the bottom of the eighth gave the Wildcats a 6-5 victory over Terrebonne.

East St. John improved to 7-9-1 overall and 1-0 in District 6-5A play.Terrebonne fell to 6-10 overall and 1-1 in district.

Tie Reese led off the eighth with a double to the wall in center field off Terrebonne reliever Clinton Alfonso. Brandon Mason followed by beatingout a bunt along the third base line with Reese holding second. ClarenceLee then singled to short, loading the bases with none out. On a 2-1 count,Williams lined a shot off the right field wall to bring in the winning run.

Terrebonne had threatened in the top of the inning as Chris Dagenhart drew a walk off of Wildcat reliever Jeremy Mitchell to open the inning. DerekBonvillain followed by beating out a bunt down the third baseline. Mitchellthen got out of the inning by striking out Alphonso and getting Jeremy Quick and Ben McElroy to fly out.

Mitchell pitched the final two innings, picking up the win to improve to 3- 2 on the season. East St. John coach Carey Ourso said Mitchell hadindicated to him from the outfield that he was ready to pitch if Ourso needed him.

“We were just looking for a guy with some guts,” Ourso said. “That is whywe went to him.”Terrebonne rallied from a 4-3 deficit with two runs in the top of the sixth. With one out, Bonvillain was hit by a pitch from Wildcat starterJerome Anderson and Alphonso singled to left. Roderick Marshall came into relieve Anderson on the mound and had his second pitch to Quick bounce off Reese’s glove. Bonvillain rounded third and kept on going, beatingReese’s throw to Marshall at the plate to tie the score.

Marshall walked Quick and was replaced by Williams. Williams threw awild pitch as McElroy was drawing a walk to score Alfonso to make it 5-4.

Williams then got out of further trouble by getting Trey Guidry to hit into a double play to short.

East St. John came back to tie the score in the bottom of the inning. Withone out, Darwin Pittman lined a double off Dagenhart’s glove at first.

After a balk moved the runner to third and Reese popped up behind the plate, Mason bounced a 2-2 pitch through the right side of the infield to tie the score.

“The big thing I told the team was that they kept competing, they kept putting the pressure on,” Ourso said.

The Wildcats got on the scoreboard in the bottom of the first. With twoouts, Williams singled to right off Terrebonne starter Brennon Giroir, stole second and scored on Jeremy Mitchell’s single to center.

Terrebonne came back with three runs in the top of the second. Bonvillainled off with a single to right and stole second. Alfonso then dropped asingle into center field, putting runners at the corners. Quick followedwith a sinking liner that fell in front of Williams and skipped to the wall.

Bonvillain and Alfonso scored as Quick pulled into third with a triple. Oneout later, Ledet grounded back to the mound, plating Quick to make it 3-1.

East St. John regained the lead in the third. Mason, who went 4-for-5 withtwo stolen bases, led off by bouncing a grounder through the right side and stole second. One out later, Williams drove a liner off of Ledet’s glove inright for a triple, bringing in Mason. Williams finished the game 3-for-5with two runs batted in.

Kent Roussell tied the score with a single to left. After Mitchell followedwith an opposite field single to left, both runners moved up on a wild pitch. Anderson then brought home Roussell with a grounder to third,giving the Wildcats a 4-3 lead.

Anderson pitched 5 1/3 innings, allowing five hits while walking one and striking out three. Giroir pitched six innings, giving up 10 hits whilewalking one and striking out three.

East St. John had also gone into extra innings against South LafourcheFriday. The game was halted after seven due to darkness and resumedMonday. East St. John scored three in the bottom of the ninth to take a 10-7 victory and move to 2-0 in district.

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