Senior Chalin Gandy of St. Mary’s defended his Class A pole vault state championship Thursday at the LHSAA’s track and field meet in Baton Rouge, while his younger sister Corbin had two top five finishes.
Gandy cleared a personal best 12-6 to win the pole vault for a second straight year at Bernie Moore Track Stadium on the LSU campus. His sister was third in the girls vault, clearing 8-5 ½, and captured fifth in the long jump with a 15-10 ½ leap.
Meanwhile, the news was not as good back home. The St. Mary’s baseball team locked in a nailbiter in its Select Division IV quarterfinal battle at Cracker Brown Field with Central Catholic, with the teams playing two extra innings before the visitors escaped with a 4-2 victory.
The Tigers moved out to an early 2-0 lead over the Eagles, who tied the game in the sixth inning and pushed across a pair of runs in the top of the ninth of a very tense contest. For 16th-seeded Central Catholic (19-15-1), it was a second straight upset victory against a higher-seeded opponent on the road, after knocking off No. 1 Opelousas Catholic last week.
St. Mary’s (16-10), the ninth seed, moved on top in the first inning on an RBI double by Haiden Nelson. An inning later, Tucker Johnson singled and later scored on an error for a 2-0 Tiger lead, but SMS couldn’t cross the plate again.
The Eagles got a fifth inning home run and plated the tying run in the top of the sixth.