Youthful Lady Trojans looking for district success

Mother Nature hasn’t exactly been the best friend of the Central Lafourche softball team this season.

With a youthful team that does not have a single senior, Lady Trojans coach Kayci Knight loaded her team’s schedule with non-district games in hopes of getting her players some playing experience before the start of district play.

But this year’s chilly and wet winter and early spring rained out all but two of the team’s pre-district games, meaning the young Lady Trojans are having to learn on the fly with the Bayou District title hanging in the balance.

“It was so frustrating because we wanted to see our players respond in as many game-like situations as possible,” Knight said. “But the rain also helped us, because we knew we had some things we needed to spend some extra time working on, so we used that extra time to touch up on the things we need to do the rest of the season to have a successful season.”

Whatever the Lady Trojans did in their downtime apparently worked, because the team overcame its youth and is currently one of the favorites to win the Bayou District heading into the final month of the season.

“I don’t think having all the games canceled really affected us that much,” said Lady Trojans junior Kelsey Pierce. “It hasn’t phased us too much. We think we’re ready.”

Knight said this is the first time she has coached a team without a senior – a scenario that is a nightmare for most coaches.

But the Lady Trojans’ coach said what the team lacks in actual playing experience, it makes up for in talent.

“We don’t look at it like our team is divided into classes,” she said. “Sometimes the freshmen on a team are better than the seniors. Do you say that player can’t play because she’s a freshman? No, you say that player is a varsity player. And that is how we’re looking at this. We don’t have any division among classes. We are all in the same class, because we’re all a varsity team.”

Knight said another good thing about coaching youthful players is her staff always has their attention.

“I really hate coaching seniors sometimes, honestly,” Knight said. “They have that attitude of ‘We don’t have to listen to you, because we’ve been here four years, so we know everything about softball.’ These kids have been anxious to learn and it’s been a lot of fun for our entire coaching staff.”

Sophomore Ashlyn Grabert agreed with her coach and said the Lady Trojans play the same style of softball no matter who is on the field.

“If we had senior players, we’d play the same way, except there would be seniors on the field with us,” she explained. “Age doesn’t change how we play. We’re going to do the same things, no matter who is with us.”

One of the strengths of the Lady Trojans has been pitching.

Junior Danielle Robichaux has limited opponents to four runs or fewer in all but two of the team’s games this season.

Like her coach and teammates, she said she relishes being on a team full of underclassmen players because of the unity on the team’s roster.

“It’s not a challenge at all to us,” she said. “We’re always together and we’re all very close. We’re very close as a team.”

Knight said while the present is looking pretty good for her team, she is even more anxious about the future as her players progress in the coming seasons.

“We have a really awesome group of girls,” she said. “Everyone always is supportive of one another and we don’t have anyone who doesn’t associate with anyone else or anything like that. We’re excited about where these girls can go.”

But the team just needs a little cooperation from Mother Nature first.

“We’re in south Louisiana and we have an all dirt infield. We need a little sunshine for once,” Knight said with a smile.

Central Lafourche junior Danielle Robichaux hurls a pitch to an H.L. Bourgeois hitter. Robichaux is one of many underclassman contributors for the Lady Trojans as the team does not have a senior on its roster. * Photo by CASEY GISCLAIR