South Terrebonne overcomes obstacles to win first baseball championship
SULPHUR — The word for South Terrebonne baseball all season has been resiliency.
After last season’s 11-10 loss in the Class 4A semifinals to North Vermilion, the Gators faced the same opponent with the state championship at stake.
Answering the Patriots’ rallies in the sixth and seventh innings, South Terrebonne won its first title with a 7-6 win at McMurry Park. This was the Gators’ first appearance in the championship game.
“Coach (Simon) Badeaux had been saying all playoffs that last year, we couldn’t finish,” Gators coach Mike Barba said. “This year, we said that our was not going to end with an L, and it didn’t. Whatever powers that were at be this season with these guys, their heart and their determination. …God, they deserve this so much. I am so glad that they will forever be remembered.”
Coming back to beat the odds has not been new for South Terrebonne.
As a result of Hurricane Ida, the school was damaged and the Gators had to play their entire 2022 season on the road.
Some players lost their houses, such as Brock Cangelosi, who has lived in a camper for the past eight months.
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However, the Gators never let those drawbacks deter them — even when they opened their District 8-4A slate with an 0-6 start and getting swept by Assumption, Vandebilt Catholic and South Lafourche.
“Some people slept at each others' houses a lot, so it just brought us together and closer as a team and as a community to come back better than ever,” said Jackson Martin, who was most outstanding player after going 2-for-3 with a triple to drive in the game-winning run in the eighth.
Another motivation was the tradition of wearing green for Saturday games, which began in 2019 — Barba’s fourth season.
South Terrebonne bounced back after its rough stretch to win 11 of its final 12 games for their first title. That first win came on a Saturday — 15-0 win over Morgan City on April 9.
After that, the Gators completed upsets of No. 2 seed Neville and No. 7 seed South Lafourche before winning Saturday’s title game.
“The (Class 4A) state championships are on Saturday, so we wanted to designate a jersey that meant more than anything else,” Barba said. “When we put championship green on, it means something totally different. It’s a whatever-it-takes attitude, because we’re not only playing for those guys, but those guys are now playing with us. The community is now with our backs.”
This article originally appeared on The Courier: South Terrebonne baseball beats North Vermilion for Class 4A title
