Dominican softball knocks off Acadiana in Louisiana (LHSAA) playoffs

10th-seeded New Orleans program advances to the Division I select quarterfinals

St. Marys Dominican Softball Facebook

Two years ago, St. Mary's Dominican softball traveled from New Orleans to the Lafayette area and lost by one run to Acadiana in the regional round of the Division I select playoffs.

On Wednesday, Dominican avenged that loss with a come-from-behind 3-2 win over the Rams in another regional round contest. In both games, Dominican was the No. 10 seed and Acadiana the No. 7 seed.

"That loss didn't sit well with our seniors, who were sophomores then," Dominican coach Dawn Benoit said.

Trailing 2-0 in the fifth inning, Dominican got a leadoff home run by first baseman Autumn Green. Five of the next six batters got a hit. Addison Shannon and Catherine Andrade (double) each drove in a run.

"That's the thing," Benoit said. "We were struggling hitting. Now we're starting to come alive, I guess you could say."

Dominican (13-15), which blew out No. 23 Huntington 18-0 in the bi-district round, lost seven of its last eight regular season games. Five were decided by two-or-fewer runs, including games against defending state champions Lutcher, Opelousas Catholic and Vandebilt Catholic.

"Those losses put us in a mental slump, but today ensured that we did what needed to do to have a chance to go to the state tournament," said Benoit, whose team will travel to Lafayette again on Friday to face No. 2 St. Thomas More in the quarterfinals.

Dominican out-hit Acadiana, 9 to 3. Andrade led the way with three hits. Slugger Ava Lusco, who had two home runs in a one-run district loss to Archbishop Chapelle, had a hit. Sarah Steeg added two hits.

"We've been playing defense well all year," Benoit said. "We just needed to have the timely hits. That came to our advantage today."

Pitcher Aubrey Daigrepont, who threw a complete game three-hitter, was a defensive star. When Acadiana (18-13) got runners on first and second with no outs, she fielded a grounder and threw out the lead runner to begin a double play.

Daigrepont also made an athletic play on a swinging bunt, and she snagged a line drive for the game's final out. She allowed one earned run, striking out four with one walk while throwing 55 of 88 pitches for strikes.

"It was a great game," Benoit said. "We played very strong defense, which was good. Aubrey has pitched every game for us the last three years. She had a great game today."

Four of the eight teams remaining in the Division I bracket are from District 9-5A: No. 4 John Curtis Christian, No. 6 Mount Carmel, No. 9 Chapelle and Dominican.

Dominican beat Acadiana last year in the regular season in extra innings, 23-22.

The playoff game was originally scheduled for Tuesday at Acadiana High at 5 p.m. More than two hours later with only half an inning played due to weather delays, it was postponed until Wednesday at another location with a turf field.

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