Central High Baseball, Softball Teams to Defend Louisiana State 5A Championships

March 16, 2018 0 Comments

The Central High School Wildcats won the Louisiana State 5A Baseball Championship last May with a big victory over powerhouse West Monroe in the state tournament in Sulphur.

It was a season and a game to remember, but the Central Wildcats are back again this spring with a lot of experience and enough talent to compete with the best in the state again this year.

Coach Mike Forbes said the Wildcats lost 11 players from the State Championship team due to graduation but still have a core of outstanding athletes returning.

“Our outfield is intact, and our starting shortstop is returning. We lost a four-year starter at catcher but a sophomore stepped up and he will be a junior this year. We have an excellent starting pitcher returning. In fact, we have some great arms on our pitching staff. We just don’t have the depth we would like to have. If our pitchers stay healthy, we will be fine.”

“We are strong on defense. We have good hitting and good base running. We are fast!” he said.

The Wildcats will play a strong schedule, mostly on the road. They have 23 road games and 12 home games currently on their schedule.

“We have to be able to win on the road,” Coach Forbes said.

The Wildcats have road trips planned to Mandeville, Holy Cross in New Orleans, West Monroe, Byrd in Shreveport, St. Louis Catholic in Lake Charles, Lafayette, and Doyle. The trip to Lake Charles will include three games over a two-day period, and Coach Forbes sees it as an opportunity to prepare for tournament and championship play on the road.

The West Monroe tournament should be especially memorable. It will have 96 teams competing, including some from Arkansas and Mississippi. There are no brackets. Central will play four games.

Coach Forbes is excited about the upgrades to the Central baseball field. Some improvements have been made by the school board and some by the Central Athletic Foundation. He pointed to new dugouts, new brick backstop, new netting and poles, and new metal fencing of the entire outfield. A new entrance will be built soon. “We are so grateful to the Central Athletic Foundation for all they have done,” he said.

The Central City News broadcast all Central High football games Live on Facebook last fall, drawing enormous audiences. Each game had between 15,000 and 36,000 viewers live and on replays.

The Central City News is broadcasting six Central High basketball games live on Facebook with the Zachary High game on Feb. 9 and Walker on Feb. 16 still to be played.

This season the Central City News will also broadcast 12 Central High baseball games, mostly out-of-town games that many fans may not be able to attend. These are

•Feb. 19 – Mandeville – Away

•Feb. 23 – Byrd – Home

•Feb. 27 – Holy Cross – Away

•Mar. 1 – West Monroe – Away

•Mar. 6 – Catholic – Away

•Mar. 15 – Lafayette – Away

•Mar. 20 – St. Amant – Home

• Mar. 26 – Doyle – Away

•Mar. 29 – Denham – Home

•Apr. 3 – Zachary – Away

•Apr. 17 – Walker – Home

•Apr. 19 – Live Oak – Away