Three Natchitoches Central competitors received honorable mention All-State recognition Tuesday on the Class 5A baseball and softball teams selected by the Louisiana Sports Writers Association.
Chiefs’ junior left-handed pitcher Ross Lindsey was on the All-State baseball roster.
For the Lady Chiefs, young outfielders Maggie Massia and Morgan Robinson were the All-State honorable mention picks.
Lindsey, who is committed to the University of Alabama, had a 5-2 record with a 2.45 ERA and struck out 76 hitters in 45.2 innings as the ace of a talented NCHS staff. The Chiefs were top 10 in the state power rankings all season long and made a second-round playoff appearance.
Massia is just a freshman. She led NCHS with a .429 batting average as the leadoff hitter, striking out only six ties in 106 plate appearances for the District 1-5A champions.
Robinson, a sophomore, topped the Lady Chiefs with 33 RBI and swatted five home runs. NCHS also reached the second round of the playoffs.
Haughton’s Christian Turner was the only District 1-5A player to make the baseball All-State first team. A junior who is committed to play baseball at Arkansas, Turner hit .406 with 7 home runs and 40 RBI while patrolling centerfield for the Bucs.
Eight others from 1-5A were named honorable mentions. State semifinalist Benton had Kade Bryant and Hudson Brignac, while three were from Captain Shreve in Andrew Sharp, Rhyson Carroway and Aron Gillum and three more from Parkway — Colton Smith, Cole Snell and Sean Waits.
On the 5A All-State baseball team, the top honors were obvious. Catholic High pitcher William Schmidt was named the Outstanding Player and his coach Brad Bass was the Coach of the Year.
Schmidt led the Bears to the Division I Select crown, allowing one hit in a 5-0 victory over John Curtis in the title game. The LSU signee was 10-0 on the mound with 102 strikeouts in 63 2/3 innings with a 0.44 earned run average.
Bass coached Catholic to a 38-2 record and a No. 1 ranking in two national polls. The Bears lost to just one Louisiana team and ended the season with a 20-game winning streak.
The All-State softball first-team selections were led by St. Amant third baseman Alix Franklin as the Outstanding Player and Scott O’Brien of Archbishop Chapelle as the Coach of the Year. Franklin is an LSU signee who batted .533 while leading St. Amant to its third consecutive state softball title. O’Brien led the Chipmunks to their first state title and first title game appearance in 20 years.
The only 1-5A softball player to earn first-team billing was Parkway superstar Chloe Larry. The senior infielder, who has signed to play basketball at Tennessee Tech, hit .556 with 4 triples and 4 home runs. She did this while competing on the track team and ultimately winning a state championship throwing the javelin. This all came after leading the Lady Panther basketball team to their second consecutive state championship. Larry’s selection is her second, having made the 2022 All-State softball team as a sophomore.
Larry’s basketball running mate Dakota Howard was named to the honorable mention softball list along with Elena Heng from Airline, Emeryn Disotell, Lainey Lafitte, Ava Defee and Christina Gegg of Benton and Haughton’s Ella Vickers and Kayleigh Goss.
