Griffins preparing for NVHS pitching staff

Two teams accustomed to playoff success meet in the Class 4A semifinals of the LHSAA State Baseball Tournament at McMurry Park in Sulphur today when top seeded North Vermilion takes on North DeSoto, which is making its third trip to the state tournament since 2012.
“When you get to practice on a Monday before the state championship, that’s always a good thing,” said North DeSoto coach Bo Odom, who has taken the Griffins to the playoff in 15 of his 16 seasons at the school after nine years coaching at Mansfield. “I wouldn’t rather be anywhere else but practicing right now. It’s a huge honor to do that right now.”
While North Vermilion (38-2) is looking to wrap up a second straight 4A championship at this year’s tournament, North DeSoto is looking to take care or unfinished business from last season. The Griffins are 33-5 overall, topping 30 wins for the second straight year after going 32-7 in 2021.
“Last year we got beat in the quarterfinals by South Terrebonne, which is a pretty good team, and they’re back again (in the state tournament) this year,” Odom said. “We had the lead in both games (against STHS), and didn’t finish the deal, so our main goal this year was to try to finish, you know? Make sure we’re playing seven innings, make sure we’re keeping the pressure on the other team. We’ve done a fairly decent job of that this year.”
The other semifinal features No. 6 seed Lakeshore (25-9) against No.15 South Terrebonne (19-15).
Odom said he knows NVHS coach Jeremy Trahan will have the Patriots prepared.
“Jeremy’s going to have them coached up well,” Odom said. “We’re good friends. We had a chance to play them a few years back down in Pineville. We met up down there and played.
“We watched them play in the finals last year, so we’ve seen them play. They’re going to play the right way. They’re going to do the little things right. They’re going to put a lot of pressure on you on the base paths, and his pitching staff is second to none.”
That will be one of the biggest challenges, Odom said.
“He’s five or six deep with his pitching staff,” the coach said. “It’s going to be a huge, huge challenge for us, but we’re going to show up and see what we can do.
“(Aiden) Leonard is throwing the ball really well. (Tyson) LeBlanc is throwing the ball really well. He’s got five or six that are very, very good. It’s going to be a huge challenge for us to manufacture runs against them.”
The Griffins lost seven seniors from last year’s team, but have a solid junior class and four seniors who have played together for years.
“We knew we had some kids that could come in and play at a high level, they just hadn’t had a chance to play yet,” Odom said. “They’ve played really well. We’ve been able to throw some strikes, and for the most part we’ve been able to field the baseball.”
Odom’s son Sam is one of the juniors on the team and the coach had a chance to coach most of the players before they even got to high school, he said, while working with his son’s summer league teams.
“We knew what we had and we were fairly successful in the younger age coming up, so we knew they were going to be able to play a little bit,” the coach said.
The seniors all fill roles on the squad. Dalton Hill leads off and plays shortstop and has ever played well, Odom said. Landon Williams is a role player who does whatever he is asked to do. Peyton Matthews also has played well as a spark plug batting in the 2 hole. Left fielder Landen LeBlanc also has played well.
“The seniors have really done a good job of leading us and making sure the younger guys are doing what they’re supposed to do,” Odom said. “We’re fortunate enough to hit a little bit also, so it’s been a well-rounded effort this year.”
Juniors Braden Richardson and Kameron Mangum have pitched well. Hill also pitches , along with junior Elijah Morris.
“I didn’t get to meet these guys when they were freshmen — I already knew who they were before they got here, and I’d already coached them during the summer,” Odom said of the junior and senior players. “You always want to coach your son and be around him, and being able to take him and his friends down to Sulphur was something we talked about whenever they were 7, 8, 9 years old. That’s when the last time we made it down there was, so we were coaching them in the summer when they were 8 and 9. We talk about it like everybody else. I said when y’all are in high school one day I want to take y’all back down there, and I’m pretty excited about that opportunity.”
The Griffins survived a 4-1/2 hour “crazy game” Friday night against Northwood-Shreveport in the first game of the quarterfinal best-of-three series. North DeSoto and Northwood shared the District 1-4A championship, each going 5-1 in league play. Williams threw 2 1/3 innings of shutout ball in relief during the Griffins’ 11-10 win in 11 innings. North DeSoto won the second game of the series 14-1 in five innings to advance to the semifinals.
Odom won his 400th career game this spring, and led the Griffins to the 2012 Class 3A state title, earning Louisiana Baseball Coaches Association Coach of the Year honors that year. He was named Louisiana Sports Writers Association Coach of the Year after bringing his team back to the semifinals in 2013 before falling to eventual state champ Parkview Baptist.
“I’ve been fortunate that we’ve got some really good kids in this area, and I’ve been very, very, very fortunate to coach some really good players,” Odom said of the program’s long term success. He’s pleased with how his team has played so far this year and looks forward to today’s game.
“I’m just proud of the way the kids have played,” Odom said. “We’re looking forward to the challenge of playing a North Vermilion state champion team.”
This also is the second trip in a couple of weeks to Sulphur for one of North DeSoto’s sports teams. The softball team won its second straight 4A state championship on April 30 at Frasch Park.
“The community’s excited. The school’s excited The kids are excited,” Odom said. “It’s going to be fun.”