It took a while for the Catholic High hitters to find some holes in the Zachary defense Thursday night on the road.
For most of the game, Zachary pitcher Dylan Marionneaux quieted the Catholic bats. But the Bears, behind consecutive hits by Cole Cranford, Brooks Wright and Jack Ruckert in the fifth inning, plated three runs, propelling Catholic to a 5-0 win.
The hits, a pair of doubles and a single, were the Bears’ third, fourth and fifth of the night.
And they were enough to give Catholic (30-2) a win in Game 1 of their District 4-5A series over Zachary (16-14).
“Any time you can come get a gritty win against a tough opponent, it’s great,” Catholic coach Brad Bass said. “So proud of the way we played. Alex (Ainsworth) was awesome on the mound, defense was great, some timely hitting. Get that combo and you get a chance to win the game.”
In a complete-game effort, Ainsworth struck out five and allowed four hits, three off the bat of Zachary five-hole hitter Hudson Spangler.
“(Zachary) has really good swings,” Ainsworth said. “They got good coaching over there. They’re good athletes. Any time you go into this matchup, they’re going to be good hitting.”
Zachary’s best chance to score arrived in the second inning when the Broncos nearly loaded the bases with two outs. But Catholic third baseman Trip Dobson ended the inning with a bare-hand grab of Skyler Andrews’ bunt. Prescott Marsh secured his quick throw to first with a scooping grab.
That opened the door for the Bears to take the lead.
In the fifth, Cranford hit a double down the third-base line. Then, Wright sent him home with a double of his own, this one into left field. Ruckert’s single into right-center field plated Wright. An inning later, Catholic left fielder Noah Lewis extended the lead with a solo home run over the wall in left-center field. Then Clayton Pourciau’s seventh-inning double, Catholic’s fifth of the night, brought the Bears’ lead to five.
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