Softball: Chapelle serves notice with fifth straight win

Area Prep Softball Report for Thursday, Feb. 25

It has been a few years since Archbishop Chapelle has been a threat in softball.

While John Curtis Christian, Mount Carmel Academy and Dominican have been forces, the Chipmunks have looked up at their brethren.

Perhaps 2021 will be different.

Chapelle remained unbeaten Wednesday with an 11-0 victory over Riverdale at the JPRD Complex in a game shortened to five innings by the mercy rule.

Freshman Delaney Trosclair went the distance, allowing one run on two hits, striking out five. Trosclair also drove in a pair of runs, as did sophomore Lexy Smith for the Chipmunks.

Junior Emily Pertuit ended the game with an RBI double in the fifth inning. Senior Madison Perez had two hits for Chapelle.

The Chipmunks (5-0) have averaged 8.3 runs per game while allowing just nine runs in five games. They have three solid pitchers in Trosclair, Smith and freshman Kayla Giardina.

Scott O’Brien took over as head coach of the Chapelle program in 2020 after being at De La Salle as the head coach for two years. Previously, O’Brien spent four years at Mount Carmel over a 4-year period.

The Chipmunks got a win over Mount Carmel in 2020 before the pandemic hit. The building process continues and it is ahead of schedule.

“I feel like we are just ramping things up and figuring out how to be successful and competitive in our district,” O’Brien said. “I think we are going to step up against better competition. I am happy with where we are. We are very young and we have a lot to do. We do have some senior leadership.”

Chapelle travels to Hammond to battle St. Thomas Aquinas tonight at 5:30 p.m. while Riverdale (0-1) will host Kenner Discovery today at 4:30 p.m.

“We are changing things,” O’Brien said. “First, we had to win practices, win innings and then win games. We still have a lot of work to do. We started over again with some eighth-graders. I picked up a lot when I was at De La Salle with Ryan Manale and at Archbishop Hannan with Scott Wattigny and employ that here in softball.”

Area Prep Softball Results from Wednesday, Feb. 24
Archbishop Chapelle 11, Riverdale 1
Belle Chasse 18, South Plaquemines 2
Central 16, Riverside Academy 5
Doyle 12, Franklinton 0
French Settlement 9, University High 0
McMain 20, Bonnabel 5
St. Charles Catholic 12, E.D. White Catholic 0