Slidell Sluggers take state

The Slidell Sluggers, a nine-year old Slidell Bantam Baseball Association team, won its second-straight state championship in the United States Specialty Sports Association All-Star State Tournament held last weekend in St. Francisville.

The games were one hour and 30 minutes, six innings or there was a 15-run mercy rule after three innings and eight-run mercy rule after four innings.

At Friday’s press time, Slidell was 15-3 and was on a 15-game winning streak.

The Sluggers, who outscored their opponents 55-10 during tournament play, played just one close game, a 3-2 victory over the St. John Warriors in the first game of bracket play Sunday.

Slidell began the tournament by defeating St. Bernard 17-3 in the first game of pool play on Saturday.

Then they beat NELA out of Northeast Louisiana 9-1 in the second game.

They started out bracket play by edging St. John 3-2 and then they beat the Slidell Syclones 10-1.

In the finals, the Sluggers defeated the Lafayette Trojans 16-3.

Pitchers Ian Landreneau and Ethan Campo were the leading pitchers for the Sluggers.

Landreaneau said his two-seam fastball was working the best for him and he said both pitchers do well together.

“We pitched pretty good,” Landreaneau said. “Ethan Campo is a pretty good pitcher and so am I.”

He also talked about the celebration following the game.

“Everybody threw their gloves up in the air and we piled on top of the coaches,” Landreaneau said.

Sluggers’ coach Tony Chappetta said it was a memorable experience for the fathers.

“It think it was a memorable experience since it happened on Father’s Day,” Chappetta said. “I don’t think the fathers will ever forget when their son was nine where they spend Father’s Day.”

For the tournament, Cole Cavallo posted a .583 on base percentage and he had five triples, while Caleb Stearns tallied a .642 on base percentage.