Mandeville senior Jennie Trepagnier silenced the St. Scholastica Academy bats Monday in the district finale with a one-hit, 13-strikeout performance as the Lady Skippers blanked the Doves, 6-0, at home.

Trepagnier (11-6-2) finished district play with a 10-2 record to help lead the Lady Skippers to a second-place tie with the Northshore Lady Panthers, who defeated Ponchatoula 9-3 on Monday.

MHS (15-11-2) finished District 7-5A play under first-year head coach Rodney Corkern with a 10-4 mark.

Mandeville senior Jennie Trepagnier prepares to release a pitch in Monday'€™s final district game against SSA. She hurled a one-hitter posting 13 strikeouts in the 6-0 victory. (Staff Photo by Mike Pervel)

Corkern praised Trepagnier’s pitching performance.

“Jennie did a tremendous job, and the defense played well behind her. Our bats were alive today, which was a good sign,” Corkern said.

“It always helps when you can get an early lead.”

SSA (17-10) finished district play in fourth place with an 8-6 mark, still hoping for a wildcard berth into the playoffs.

Trepagnier also helped herself at the plate, going 2-for-3 with two runs batted in against the Doves. Sarah Mahavier went 2-for-3 with a run batted in for the Lady Skippers. Nicole Borkowski and Brooklyne Sansone had a hit and drove in a run for MHS in support of Trepagnier.

SSA starting pitcher Lauren Fereday (14-6) took the loss and finished with an 8-4 district record. She went four innings, giving up six runs (four earned) on eight hits and posting four strikeouts and one walk. Katie Tyrney relieved Fereday, pitching two scoreless innings and allowing just one hit with two strikeouts.

Fereday secured the Doves’ only hit off of Trepagnier in the fifth inning, ripping a one-out, 0-1 pitch into center field. The next Doves’ hitter walked. Trepagnier worked out of the two-base runner jam, striking out the next batter and retiring the side on a ground out to the shortstop.

She only allowed five Doves’ base runners to reach base with nobody making it past second base.

“It was a good team win. I counted on my defense, and they did a good job like always. They always do a good job to support me. We wanted to focus on the present just taking it one game at a time,” Trepagnier said.

Lady Skippers’ senior catcher Elicia Ocmond gave credit to Trepagnier for coming through in the clutch.

“Jennie’s curveball and screwball were working well. She had good movement on her pitches. She got a lot of strikeouts on her drop ball.

In the Doves’ top of the second, Tyrney walked to lead off the inning. Trepagnier struck out the next two batters before Tyrney moved into scoring position with a steal of second. Trepagnier stranded Tyrney retiring the next hitter on strikes.

MHS took a 2-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Joanna Rochelle reached on an error and Heather Nastasia beat out an infield single. The next hitter struck out. Mel Gaines reached on a fielder’s choice to third base with Rochelle being forced out at the plate. Trepagnier delivered an RBI single to center scoring Nastasia with the first run of the game. The ball was misplayed in the outfield allowing Gaines to score on the play as well to make it 2-0.

Nastasia, MHS’ senior center fielder, said she was proud of her young teammates.

“Half of our players are JV players. We came in mentally focused. We played smart by taking it one inning at a time,” Nastasia said.

Mandeville closed out the scoring with four runs in the third inning. With one out, Gaines tripled. Trepagnier followed with a run scoring single plating Gaines. Aubrey Gilliland replaced Trepagnier as a courtesy runner. Mahavier doubled to score Gilliland for a 4-0 lead. Then Sansone produced an RBI double scoring Mahavier. Borkowski closed out the Lady Skippers’ scoring singling home Sansone.

Mahavier, the Lady Skippers’ starting second baseman, who has signed with LSU Eunice, said her team just took it one inning at a time.

“We did what we had to. We stayed focused, and Jennie (Trepagnier) came through for us like she always does,” Mahavier said.