Angola All-Stars crush inter-institutional softball competition in satellite prison’s backyard
This article was originally published in The Angolite out of Louisiana State Penitentiary. It won first place for Best Sports Coverage in the 2025 American Penal Press Contest.
Elayn Hunt Correctional Center (ЕНСС) hosted the 2024 Department of Corrections (DOC) inter-institutional softball championship at the close of June. Teams representing David Wade Correctional Center (DWСС), Dixon Correctional Institute (DCI), Louisiana State Penitentiary (LSP), and Raymond Laborde Correctional Center (RLCC) met at the multi-level facility in St. Gabriel for a full day of competitive action. The first softball championship to be held since 2019, the tournament pitted teams in double elimination bracket play on EHCC’s Unit 2 yard and featured five-inning games with batters beginning one strike down to speed up play.
Elimination matches began early under a cloudless sky with quickly rising temperatures, but throughout the day it was the Angola All-Stars that brought the heat. Comprised of members of the Camp-C Blue Jays and players from Main Prison and Camp-F, the All-Stars entered the tournament in excellent form. The reigning DOC champs from 2019, the team defended its title with the signature solid defense and big bats Angola softball is known for.
Matched up first with the All-Stars were the DWCC Warriors sporting fancy new pin-striped uniforms. The All-Stars began the tournament cold, going three and out before giving up four runs in the first inning off of a Warrior’s grand slam over the head of Joshua Johnson in left field. The AllStars then gave up one run in the second inning and another in fourth to find themselves down 6-3 going into the final inning.
Coming to bat with the game on the line, Johnson led off the fifth with a line drive single to get on base but the Warriors defense in a deep outfield shell held tough, snagging two successive outs off a Ricky Bruce infield fly and Miles Guidry flying out to center-left to pin the All-Stars against the wall.
An out away from dropping the first game, Letrakus Tyler stepped up to begin an LSP rally with a single over shortstop, advancing Johnson to third base, followed by a solid line drive RBI double by Wayne Guidry that drove Johnson in to narrow the score to 6-4. With Guidry the tying run sitting on second and Tyler now on third, Kevin Holmes ripped a deep go-ahead home run shot to put the All-Stars up for the first time 7-6.
Not finished for the All-Stars, Furnell Severin slapped a single to center-left to set up the rally’s second homer of the inning — a deep double RBI shot over left field by Jon Dickerson — that drove the score to 9-6 before the Warriors could secure the third out and get out of the field.
Up for their last at bat and now down by 3, the Warriors looked to close the game out at the plate, scoring quick runs to tie the score up 9-9. But with one out and a runner on first, the All-Stars showed their defensive quality. Snagging a hard grounder to Bruce at shortstop, LSP turned two with Tommy Franklin tagging up second and beating the runner with a solid throw to first to push the game into extra innings.
Back at the plate for the sixth inning, the AllStars maintained their momentum with a lead-off single by Warren Sinceno, followed by Johnson taking a walk, to put runners on first and second with no outs. The Warriors responded with back-to-back defensive plays — an infield pop-up to short by Bruce followed by an outstanding line drive catch by the Warriors’ second baseman off the bat of Miles Guidry — but the pressure was too much. Connecting with a crushing shot, Tyler smashed the ball over the 10-foot security fence spanning the back of the outfield, landing it on the security road beyond, a monster three-run homer that put LSP back up 12-9.
Returning to the field, the All-Stars held the Warriors scoreless to seal the victory, relegating DWCC to the bottom half of the bracket.
In other first round action, the RLCC Gators defeated the home team EHCC Lions 13-12 to set up an elimination match in the loser’s bracket between EHCC and DWCC. Unable to recover from their first loss, the Warriors fell 8-5 to the Lions, eliminating them from the contest.
In the winner’s bracket, the Gators moved on to rout the DCI Gunslingers 16-4 with LSP looking on, setting up a Gator vs. All-Stars match, with the Lions taking on the Gunslingers in the loser’s.
Entering their second game, the All-Stars shifted players off the bench, replacing Severin at first with Rob Nelson, Franklin at second with Jason Baudion, Miles Guidry at short center with Rodrick White, and Sinceno in right field with Marcus Hamilton.
Opening the game at the plate, the All-Stars scored one run in the first off of a deep solo home run by Holmes, while holding the Gators to a single run to tie the first inning. Coming back to bat, the All-Stars cracked open the Gator defense with four runs — a solo home run by Dickerson, an RBI triple by Baudion, an RBI single by Severin acting as an extra hitter, and an RBI single by Holmes — while holding the Gators to one run to finish the second inning 5-2.
LSP scored again in the third, a sacrifice fly by Dickerson that brought Tyler home from third base, putting the All-Stars up 6-2. RLCC responded with its best inning. Fighting to stay alive at the mid-point of the game, the Gators’ Dupree batted in three runs — a home run shot over center field with runners on first and third — to narrow the gap to 6-5 before the All-Star defense could close the inning out.
The Gators’ resurgence was short-lived. LSP broke the game open in the fourth inning with five runs. With runners on first and second and one out, the Gators walked Johnson to load the bases, bringing Holmes back to bat. He took a strike then launched the next pitch deep to center, beating the Gators’ Austin Cedars on an error for an in-the-park grand slam. Down by 5, RLCC gave up another home run to Tyler two batters later, extending the All-Star lead 11-5.
Defense ruled the remainder of the game as the All-Stars held the Gators three up-three down in the bottom of the fourth and, with the game on the line, stopped RLCC in the bottom of the fifth, giving up only two runs — an RBI home run by Dupree, the Gators’ biggest bat — winning 11-7 to advance to the championship game.
In the loser’s bracket, DCI defeated EHCC 10-9, eliminating the home team Lions, to set up a Gunslingers vs. Gators elimination game to determine who would face the All-Stars for the championship trophy. The second contest of the day between the two teams, DCI worked its defense against a flagging Gators team to win 8-3 and advance.
The final contest was the third of the day for the undefeated All-Stars, with the advantage of having passed through the tournament in the winner’s bracket. For the Gunslingers, having fought through the loser’s side of the tournament to stay alive, the game was their fourth over the course of a long summer day with little relief.
The All-Stars reverted to their original lineup, putting fresh legs and gloves back into the rotation, with Severin retaking first, Franklin at second, Miles Guidry at short center, and Sinceno in right field.
The game was never close. Giving up two runs off six batters before shutting the Gunslingers offense down, the All-Stars continued their dominance at the plate, answering with six runs — an RBI single by Miles Guidry, followed by a three RBI home run well over the heads of the Gunslingers’ outfield by Tyler. Dickerson followed with a hard shot to center-left, driving in Severin from third. Rounding the bases, Dickerson was waived home, beating out the Gunslingers’ catcher with a slide to the plate for an in-the-park home run, putting the All-Stars up 6-2.
Pitcher Wayne Guidry controlled the remainder of the championship game, limiting the Gunslingers to three hits and one run in the second and no hits in the third. The All-Stars extended their lead by two runs in the second, with Miles Guidry batting in a run and beating out an errant throw at home for another home run off of good base running. Returning to bat in the bottom of the third, up 8-2 with clouds massing on the horizon and lightning in the sky, tournament officials called the contest for the All-Stars — awarding LSP the championship.
For his performance throughout the tournament, Kevin Holmes was awarded the All-Stars Most Valuable Player. Over three games, Holmes locked down center field with stellar defense while contributing nine RBIs on offense, batting .714 at the plate with two home runs and a grand slam. Other standouts for LSP included Dickerson at third base, going 4-for-7 from the plate with a sac fly, three home runs, and seven RBIs; and Tyler at catcher, batting 6-of-9 with three home runs and seven RBIs.
The championship represents a return to dominance for LSP, coming on the heels of the Angola All-Stars basketball team’s defeat of EHCC in May.
