Catholic High's Emma Hamner returns a ball from the outfield. 

The New Iberia Senior High softball team kicked off the year with three impressive wins to set the tone for the upcoming season.

A tight 12-11 victory over Teurlings Catholic in the season opener was followed up by another close win over Catholic High. The Lady Jackets then decided to blow the doors off when they faced district rival Comeaux, defeating the Lady Spartans 22-0 before heading into the STM Grandslam Tournament held at Broussard’s St. Julien Park.

Head coach Kasha Brown said that she was satisfied with her team’s performances early in the season.

“I’m okay with their performance,” she said. “We have a young team and we are going to keep pushing forward with them.”

The Lady Jacket’s first opponent of the tournament was defending 5A state champion St. Amant.

Despite falling to the Lady Gators 14-2, Brown said that she was happy that her team was able to give the reigning champs a bit of a test early in the season.

“This is a great team for us to face this early in the season with them being the defending state champs,” Brown said. “We went seven innings with them so, overall, I’m impressed.”

Several changes have been made to the NISH roster following last season’s departure of several key seniors, but one player left big shoes to fill for this year’s Lady Jackets.

Ke’Asia StJulien, who is continuing her softball career at LSUA, left the team scrambling for someone to replace her on-field performances as well as her leadership abilities. Brown said that, so far, the players are all stepping up to fill the void.

“Leadership is something that we’re working on,” she explained. “As far as what we lost on the field, Nevaeh (Courville) is holding her own and we have a lot of hitters in the lineup, especially with the freshmen that came in this season. We have some great hitters in the lineup.”

Another area that Brown said the team is doing well is pitching. With the return over several experienced pitchers to the circle, NISH has also added in a couple of talented freshmen to round out the pitching staff.

“The pitching depth looks great,” Brown said. “We still have our three juniors who have pitched the last three years and we have two freshmen who are just getting the job done. I couldn’t ask for anything better. Our pitching staff is solid.”

With a solid mix of experience and youth, NISH are looking to pick up a few important wins at the weekend tournament. Saturday contests against Sacred Heart and Dutchtown can give NISH a boost ahead of district play, which starts on Mar. 9 when the Lady Jackets face Carencro on the road.

“I’m just looking for us to go out and compete,” Brown said about the weekend’s expectations. “We’re facing some great competition this weekend and I think the best thing for us to do is go out and compete, play our best and get the job done, whatever that looks like.”