First, it was the Opelousas Catholic softball program that brought home a state championship.
Now the baseball team wants some hardware of its own.
Behind stellar pitching and timely hitting, the Vikings punched their ticket into the Division IV select finals by defeating Central Catholic of Morgan City 3-0 at McMurry Park in Sulphur on Tuesday.
“It feels awesome,” Vikings coach Justin Boyd said of advancing to the state finals. “We have been working for this for a long time. I’m proud of the kids and I’m really happy for them.”
The Vikings are in the state finals for the first time since 2021 when they finished as a runner-up to Ouachita Christian. The Vikings will face No. 11 Glenbrook (16-10) for the Division IV state championship at 2 p.m. Friday on Field 41.
“It really means a lot,” Boyd said. “It means that all of the hard work is paying off.”
Opelousas Catholic starting pitcher Taylor Hollier turned in a tremendous performance on the mound, and the Vikings posted their first shutout since April 4. Hollier tossed five scoreless innings while allowing three hits and three walks and striking out four.
“We got an unbelievable performance from Taylor,” Boyd said. “Taylor hadn’t really pitched as much as he wanted to this year. But he went out and gave us all he could.”
Boyd admits the Vikings didn’t know how much they’d get from Hollier on Tuesday, but they were more than pleased with his effort.
“We knew that he wasn’t going to go all the way,” Boyd said. “We didn’t know how many pitches we were going to get out of him. We were thinking 60 to 65 pitches, and we ended up getting like 88. We knew he was going to go out there and compete, because he always gives us that.”
Offensively, the Vikings were led by Mark Collins, who was 1 for 3 with a home run. Collins got the Vikings going early with his solo home run with one out in the bottom of the first inning.
“I thought we were ready to play,” Boyd said. “I thought we came out ready to go. We were nervous, but you’re supposed to be nervous. We were ready.”
Boyd hopes the Vikings can put together a repeat performance and secure the school’s first baseball state championship.
“We’re not satisfied with just getting there (state finals) anymore,” Boyd said. “We have done that a couple of times. We want to win it.”
