The 2025 season has been a test for both the baseball and softball teams at Loreauville High School. 

After both teams made a run to the quarterfinals of the Division III Non-Select playoffs last year, questions began to be asked about what a realistic level of success would look like after the departure of so many key starters. 

For the Tigers, a large junior class meant continuity in both skill and attitude, but the departure of longtime head coach Rob Segura just before the season began added to the uncertainty. 

A pair of 1-2 showings at the North Vermilion and Vandebilt Catholic tournaments left Loreauville with a 3-5 record early in the season and a difficult run of games through February gave way to several big wins in March, including an 11-4 victory over Mamou, a tight 6-5 win over Iota and success in a dramatic 5-4 game against Terrebonne in extra innings. 

Even the losses have gotten closer. 

A 3-0 stumble to perennial-rival Catholic High earlier in the month still provided a bit of a silver lining to the loss in the quality pitching displayed by Austen Guilbeau.. So too did the Tigers’ latest road loss to Notre Dame, currently the No. 6 team in Division III Select, just a few spots behind Catholic High at No. 3.  

With another game scheduled for Saturday, the Tigers are quickly learning to focus on the successes and to let go of the failures. 

After pulling away to a 3-1 lead at home to Terrebonne, the Tigers found themselves trailing 4-3 in the final inning. Senior Maddox Savoy’s crucial single in the bottom of the seventh inning was enough to send Gabe Horton home to tie the game. A triple by senior Dylan Navarre in the bottom of the ninth put the winning runner just 90 feet away from home plate. Intentional walks for John David Judice and Maddox Savoy loaded the bases. With senior all-around athlete Kylon Polk at the plate, Navarre capitalized on a passed ball by the Terrebonne catcher to score the winning run on a stolen base. 

“I saw them miss the ball and I was like ‘oh yeah, I’m going to third,’” said Navarre after the game. “I’m happy that I was able to go three-for-four today, that’s a big positive. I was waiting for them to hit a ground ball and get thrown out at home, but hey, those things happen. There were a lot of mishaps (in the game) but we’ll get it together for the next one.”

On the other side of the ball park, things weren’t going so well for the Lady Tigers. 

After senior Lexi McLin’s home run tied the game 1-1, Loreauville’s District 7-2A opener against Houma Christian seemed to be progressing well. The Lady Tigers gave up one additional run in the fourth inning but equalized in the fifth thanks to a sacrifice fly ball by McLin. 

It all began to fall apart in the sixth inning as Houma Christian added seven runs. The Lady Tigers countered with two runs of their own, but it was too little, too late for the home team. Loreauville would eventually lose by a score of 12-6, leaving head coach Jude Dugas with plenty of unanswered questions moving forward.

“We’re hard to watch offensively and when you give up seven in an inning, you can’t win like that no matter who you play,” Dugas said after the loss. “People say to lower expectations, but that’s bull crap. We don’t do that around here. The standard is the standard and you rise to the standard or you don’t play. We lost an amazing group and you don’t just replace those kinds of girls. That’s the reality that we’re faced with. We have six new starters out there that haven’t played a whole lot of varsity and we’re relying on a freshman pitcher. It’s just experience or a lack thereof that we’re dealing with now, so we’re trying to teach them how to throw down and be mentally tough and all of those things.”

The Lady Tigers aren’t lacking talent, but the team is divided between experienced upper classmen and a young group who is just beginning to get substantial playing time at the varsity level.

“You could see it tonight with the older, experienced players,” Dugas said. “Lexi (McLin) hit a home run tonight, Victoria (Broome) hit a home run tonight, and those are two All-Staters. Kennedi (Angelle) also hit a home run tonight and she’s a senior three-year starter, so you do start to see some separation. You look at the ones who are new or inexperienced starters and they’re trying to find their way along. We’re just trying to help them along this process of growing and developing. It is what it is, you have to go through it. We have a lot of belief in the ones we have, but we just have to be mentally tough through it all. They’ll be better for it, one day.”

One player who is rapidly improving is freshman pitcher Megan Segura. Against Houma Christian, Segura completed 55 strikes from 91 pitches over six innings. In the Lady Tigers’ matchup against District 7-2A rival Catholic High, Segura recorded five strikeouts and scored two runs in the 10-7 win. 

“She’s shown flashes of greatness,” Dugas said of Segura’s growth this season. “She’s been better every outing and she’s a super tough kid. She throws the ball well and, you know, most freshmen want nothing to do with that spot. She has embraced it and faced it head on while competing her tail off. That’s what we expect out of her and she’s proven that she can handle it.”

The Lady Tigers will hope to continue improving and building towards the standard of excellence the team has shown in the past. After finishing 28-6 last season, the Lady Tigers are in unfamiliar territory with an 8-9 record on the season. District games against West St. Mary and Franklin will provide a much-need boost to team morale, but Loreauville’s difficult schedule will still see the Lady Tigers face off against heavy hitters like Teurlings Catholic, Lafayette, North Vermilion and Southside to close out the regular season.