Three Avoyelles Parish baseball teams, two softball squads still in playoffs

Four of the parish’s five high school baseball teams made it into the state playoffs. Three teams played their first round playoff games on Monday and two of those advanced in the playoffs and will begin their 2nd round playoff series today.

Only the AAA Marksville Tigers remained home after the regular season ended. No.28 Avoyelles fell to No. 7 Albany, 10-2, in the Class AAA playoffs.

In Class AA baseball, 11th-seeded Bunkie defeated 22nd-ranked Lake Arthur, 4-2, and 7th-seeded Avoyelles Charter shut out 26th-ranked Vinton, 8-0, to advance to a best-of-three series today and Saturday.

The Panthers will travel to play 6th-seeded Many at 6 p.m. Friday and again at 11 a.m. Saturday. A third game, if needed, would be played at 2 p.m. Saturday.

The Vikings host 10th-seed Pine at 6:30 p.m. and will play again at noon Saturday. A third game, if needed, is scheduled for 2:30 p.m. Saturday.

In Division V, 8th-seeded St. Joseph will play top-ranked Claiborne Christian on May 2. Both of those teams received first-round byes, so it will be the first playoff game for both teams in this tournament.

SOFTBALL SEMI-FINALS

Two Avoyelles Parish softball teams will play in their state semi-final game this Friday.

The 7th-seeded Lady Vikings upset the No. 2 Doyle Lady Tigers on April 17, 4-3. They will face the No. 3-seeded Mangham Lady Dragons in the semi-finals of the Allstate Sugar Bowl state championship tournament at Frasch Park in Sulphur.

The St. Joseph Lady Eagles blasted Runnels High in the Division V quarterfinals, 16-2, to earn a semi-final position against top-ranked Claiborne Christian on Friday.