5 Avoyelles Parish high school athletes named to softball, baseball All-State teams

Four high school athletes from Avoyelles Parish were named first team All-State in their class while another was an All-State honorable mention. The selections were made by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.

St. Joseph’s pitcher Macey Firmin and centerfielder Emily Link were named to the Class C All-State Softball team. Both were seniors for the Lady Eagles under Head Coach Kenny Knight.

Avoyelles Public Charter also had two All-Staters. Brianna Guillot, who was also a senior this past season, was named first team catcher for the Class B All-State softball team. Viking sophomore Luke Rousseau was first team catcher for the Class B baseball All-State team.

Firmin has pitched all but two games for St. Joseph since she joined the team in 8th grade. This is her third selection to an All-State team in four years.

During her six years on the team, St. Joe went to the finals once, the semi-finals three times and the quarterfinals once.

Despite having a young and inexperienced team, St. Joseph used the strength of its pitching to advance to the semi-finals, where eventual state champ Claiborne Christian ended their season.

Firmin finished the year with a 3.52 earned run average. Although not known as a strike-out pitcher, she also walked very few batters during the year.

Link led the Lady Eagles’ offensive threat with a .400 batting average and two home runs. She was also a good defensive player when St. Joseph was in the field.

Guillot was the Most Valuable Player and first team All-District catcher in District 5-B. She was the team leader for the Lady Vikings and hit .480 with five home runs and 32 RBIs.

APCS’ season was cut short when Choudrant pulled off an 11-inning upset in the second round of the playoffs.

Rousseau was the first team All-District catcher in District 5-B. He hit .395 with two home runs and scored 17 runners. On defense, Rousseau threw out 12 base runners during the season.

The Vikings lost a close game to Florien in the quarterfinals.

Bunkie Magnet High’s pitcher Haden Goudeau was a Class AA honorable mention. The senior pitcher was named to the first team All-District 3-AA team that included Menard, Rosepine, Many and Pickering.

Goudeau had a 1.60 ERA  in district play, had a 3-2 won-lost record in district and 7-7 overall, and pitched all of the Panthers’ toughest games. He struck out 65 batters and walked 22. He pitched an outstanding game against Pine High School in the first round of the playoffs but lost the second round game to DeQuincy.