2008-09   GIRARD VIKINGS
BIDDY BASKETBALL (12U)
* JPRD-East Runner-ups *
	#	PLAYERS	COACHES
		Joseph Bellott	CHRIS WILLIAMSON
		Mitchell Bourgeois	Marcel Scott
		Sean Finnegan	Ryan Womac
		Austin Gauthreaux
		John Hall
		Paul Kudryashov
		Ryan LeBlanc
		Kaleb Roper
		Stephen Sigle
		Danny Spring
		Brandon Womac

JPRD-East 12U BIDDY BASKETBALL REGULAR SEASON SCHEDULE (click here)

Congratulations to Vikings 12U Biddy Team for winning the regular season North Division.  The team entered the Final Five tournament as the North 1 Seed and will receive a bye to the 2nd round.   Final Five action begins this week (26JAN09) with most games being played at St Martin's High School. 

Game 3 on Wednesday featured the Vikings facing the Bright Falcons (Bright advanced to Round 2 by defeating the Miley Cardinals).  In a very hard fought matchup, the Vikings and Falcons traded leads throughout the first 3 quarters, before the Vikings took charge at the end of the game, winning by 10, 34-24.   The win now pits Girard vs the Cleary Rebels on Thursday night, who also received a bye and advanced by defeating the Lemon Raiders.

Game 6 is the "Driver's Seat Game", for which the winner will advance to the Championship on Saturday.  In the double elimination format, the winner of Game 6 will only have to win once on Saturday to win the title. 

In the Biddy 12's "Driver's Seat Game", it was the game everyone expected, with the two District winners battling it out down to the very end.

Earlier, in an elimination game, the Bright Falcons defeated the Lemon Raiders, 49-25.  On Friday, Cleary and Bright met in an elimination game at Cleary, with the Rebels winning to advance to the Championship.

The Championship was on Saturday at St Martin's with Cleary-Girard rematch from the Driver's Seat Game.   A repeat of Wednesday's game was not to be, as the Rebels came up from the loser's bracket and won both Championship Games.   It was still a very successful season for the Vikings, ending as JPRD-East 12U Runner-ups.

* Congratulations to Austin Gauthreaux, John (JT) Hall, and Brandon Womac, who will represent Girard on the JPRD-East 12U Biddy Allstars.

Girard Playground is proud to enjoy the largest enrollment of kids playing sports in the Metairie area.  Because of this, we are asking each child to sell a minimum of 10 - $1.00 raffle tickets for a $1000 grand prize drawing.  The winners will be announced on Friday, May 1st at 8:00 P.M. at the Viking Cafe.

This will help us to make the necessary improvements to the playground.  We want to make Girard enjoyable to everyone attending an event at the playground.

We also are awarding $100.00 to the Girard Athlete that sells the most tickets.  Seller's name must be written on the ticket stub in order for it to count towards his/her total.  This award is for one (1) individual only not per family.

Tickets and money will be collected during try-outs for each age group.

If you need more tickets, please contact one of the following booster club board members:

Danielle Dares   -   430-8282   /   ddares1@cox.net

Shannon Stephens   -   915-5931   /   snstephens@cox.net

Danny Haag   -   272-5314   /   djhaag@cox.net

The Dizzy Dean 13 team will participate in the JPRD-East Preseason tournament this weekend at Pontiff (25-26 Apr 2009).

The JPRD-East Dizzy Dean 13 League's official website is:

http://www.jprdbaseball.com

After a successful 2008 season, the VIKING CAFE returns for 2009! 

Much more than regular "concession stand food", the Viking Cafe will offer restauarant quality fare on a regular basis on Friday nights during the Baseball and Softball season.  Come hungry!

The Viking Cafe will be in full operation on Opening Day (Friday, 1 May 2009), with a menu entrees of Fried Fish and Jambalaya.   

THREE-PEAT !!!

2008-09   GIRARD LADY VIKINGS
BIDDY BASKETBALL (Girls 12U)
EAST BANK RUNNER-UPS
	PLAYERS	COACHES
	Emilee Bonura	JOE UZEE
	Maddie Camet	Herman Schroeder
	Brianna Dyess
	Catherine Marziale
	Lexi Ruello
	Katie Schroeder
	Tori Stanton
	Kara Triche
	Sarah Uzee
	Caroline Wade

The 12U Biddy Lady Vikings opened up strong in Pre-District play last weekend with wins against Cleary and Pontiff.

The Lady Vikings advanced to the Final Four Tournament @ Delta Playground, however fell to Owens in the Championship Game.   Congratulations to the Lady Vikings - the East Bank Girls Biddy Runner-ups! 

Girard Playground has a large number of children participating in our many programs. These guys work hard to make that a good experience for your kids. 

The Vikings will now advance to the Eastbank Final Four (@ Lakeshore), as the North 1 seed, joining the Pontiff Blue Devils (South 1).   Girard will face the Little Farms Pirates (S2), and Pontiff will face the Miley Cardinals (N2)

The Vikings went undefeated in the Final Four, earning wins over Little Farms, Pontiff and Miley in the Championship Game, 48-38.

Congratulations goes out to Marissa Waguespack and Emily Gillus, who will represent Girard on the 2009 Girls Biddy Allstar 12U team from JPRD-East!

Also representing Girard is Cameron Angelo, who played on the 2009 Girls Biddy Allstar 10U team from JPRD-East (National Biddy 10U Runner-ups)!

This baseball and softball season, the bleacher area around Field 3 (by the West Esplanade parking lot) and Fields 4 + 5 (between the tots field and softball field) will have concrete hardpads and some fill added.  This should GREATLY reduce the mud and puddle mess after a rainstorm.

These - and many other improvements -  are funded solely by your Girard Booster Club, so please consider joining the Boosters this Baseball Season at registration.   There are annual and lifetime family memberships available to fit your budget. 

Girard will celebrate the start of the season in a big way this year.  Several events will occur on Opening Day 2009, including:

* The Official First Pitch of the Season

* Winner of the Booster Club's $1000 Grand Prize Drawing for the Opening Day Raffle (8pm)

* The Viking Cafe will have great food all evening long - come hungry!

* Last year's 2008 Girard Vikings Dixie Youth Allstars Baseball Team will be feted for their Louisiana Dixie Youth State Runner-Up title and Louisiana South Regional Champions achievements (in between 11&12 American League games)

Make it a family event, even if your child's team is off that evening, and celebrate being a Girard Viking!

The 14U Girard Vikings intramural Allstars have qualified as the North 2 seed in the Eastbank Final Four, which will take place at Little Farms.  The Vikings will face the Little Farms Pirates on Thursday at 8.10p in an opening round game in the double elimination tournament.

N1 Miley will face S2 Cleary or Bright in the other game.

2008 GIRARD VIKINGS BASEBALL
11-12 Dixie Youth Majors Allstars
ROSTER
	#	PLAYERS	COACHES
	5	Stewart Campbell	DEREK DELATTE
	6	Matthew Collet	Dave Farrell
	8	Cody Cross	Gary Helffrich
	7	Gregory Deichmann	Jason Lisotta
	10	Jonathan Ebersole
	11	Sean Finnegan
	9	Austin Gauthreaux
	1	Ryan Licali
	3	Connor McWilliams
	16	Cody Morris
	2	Kaleb Roper
	4	Stephen Sigle

*** Congratulations to West Monroe - East, who proceeded to advance and win the Dixie Youth World Series championship ***

Click on the links above, and you will be able to see the info for only that specific league.  This will greatly reduce the amount of information displayed (as opposed to the entire Baseball page).

   Mobile users:  bookmark your league links for faster access.

On August 29, 2005,  Hurricane Katrina slammed into the New Orleans-Gulf Coast area, with devastating results.  The Girard community was also severely affected.

Our athletic fields and gymnasium were covered by several feet of water during the storm.  The gym roof also sustained severe damage and the entire basketball season was held at John Quincy Adams Middle School for the 2005-2006 season. 

We lost many of our shade trees in the spectator areas, along with several light standards for the baseball/football fields, and several baseball fences were blown down.  The concession stands were a complete loss, with all equipment and inventory destroyed. 

However, the biggest loss was to our families' homes.  Many of our families live in the area closest to Lake Pontchartrain, and suffered roof damage and flooding from the storm.  For months after Katrina, many families took up temporary residence in other towns and states all over the country.  For a while, things looked very, very bleak....

....then late in October 2005, the recreation district playgrounds pooled their players and began playing football games again.  Then came basketball at the middle schools, and in the spring of 2006, Girard came back fully back to life with the Soccer and Track season.  Many of our children and coaches were still living in FEMA trailers while their homes were being rebuilt, and our park provided them with the activities and normalcy they needed so badly.

It has been a long, hard road back for our community and our park, and it all culminated in some recent big events:  our 2007 Dixie Youth (12YO) Baseball Team went to Virginia and ended up being the World Series runner-ups, and one of our former players, LSU Safety Craig Steltz, became our most decorated alumni ever, winning the 2008 BCS National Football Championship, earning First Team All American honors, and being drafted by the NFL Chicago Bears.  Ironically, the other Girard alumnus to participate on a BCS National Championship football team was Craig's older brother Kevin Steltz, who was the fullback for LSU in the 2003 title game.

Now, most of our families have returned and are back in their homes.  The park looks good again, and the kids are back in droves.  However, this did not happen out of the blue.  It took a lot of hard work by everyone:  our local dedicated playground staff, the Girard Boosters, and finally our parents (and coaches).   Without their help, the return of Girard would not be possible.

VIKINGS END SEASON AS LOUISIANA DIXIE YOUTH STATE RUNNER-UPS AND UNDEFEATED SOUTH REGIONAL CHAMPIONS

 

DIXIE YOUTH MAJORS - 2008 LOUISIANA STATE CHAMPIONSHIP SERIES   (Alexandria)

Girard opened up the Louisiana State Championship Series vs the Regional champion, West Monore East.  The LSCS was held at the first class Johnny Downs Sports Complex in Alexandria on Friday and Saturday, July 25-26.  The format was a best of three series.  UPDATE:  WEST MONROE EAST GOES ON TO WIN THE DIXIE YOUTH WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONSHIP

GAME 1    WEST MONROE EAST  over  GIRARD,   13-1

Game 1 was a tough game for our Vikings, who faced a great pitching performance and a hitting barrage from the WM squad. 

GAME 2    WEST MONROE EAST  over  GIRARD,   5-4

Our Vikings rebounded in Game 2 to play WM tough.  After spotting the WM team an early 3-0 lead, the Vikings came back on the top of the 6th to tie the game at 4-4, and still threatening for more with runners on base.  A call at the plate on a steal ended the inning, and WM sealed the victory in the botttom of the 6th with a walkoff single.

In the last 2 years, GIRARD has won the State Championship in 2007 and were the State Runner-ups this year.  Over 60 allstar teams began this journey a few weeks ago, and at the LSCS there we only two left standing - our Girard Vikings and West Monroe East.  A proud accomplishment for our team.

Our season has now officially ended, and we congratulate the West Monroe team and wish them luck in the Dixie Youth World Series in Georgia and hope they bring it back to Louisiana.

But most of all we cannot thank enough: our coaching staff, our playground supervisors, our parents, and finally our players, for a super effort this year and for representing our playground.  GO VIKINGS!!!

 

DIXIE YOUTH MAJORS - SOUTH REGIONAL   (Ponchatoula) 

The South Regional festivities begain on Thursday, Jun 17, at 6pm, with the Teams' Banquet at the Ponchatoula Lions Hall, where the Regional participating players and coaches were honored.

Play began on Friday, with our Vikings topping a tough Morgan City team by the score of 7-4 at Ponchatoula Recreation Park on a sunny day at 2.30pm.   Girard came out of the box fast, leading at the end of 1 by 4-1.  Morgan City fought back to cut the lead to 1, then the Vikings got some insurance on a 2 run Home Run in the bottom of the 5th.  The Vikings' fans were able to follow the game at home and across the country courtesy of the Morgan City radio station KBZE-FM on the Internet.

On Saturday at 5pm in a 2nd Round game, Girard defeated Tioga by the score of  7-5.  The Vikings took an early 4-0 lead, then fell behind by 1, coming back in the 5th inning to seal the victory. 

With the tournament half over, on sweltering Sunday evening, the Vikings met up with the only other undefeated team in the tournament - West Monroe North.  While not a true "driver's seat game", the winner here is alone with the advantage of no losses.  In the tilt, the Vikings steadily built on a lead - led by a 1st inning 2 run Home Run - coupled with a great pitching performance, to get by the WM squad.  The Vikings has WM scoreless until the last inning, when they scored two late runs in the top of the 6th, ending the game by a score of 8-2 for Girard. 

In Monday's game, the Vikings continued their winning ways, overcoming a determined Gonzales National team and their pitcher.  For 3 innings, the teams matched run for run.  Gonzales then increased their lead by 1 in each of the next 2 innings.  Girard fought back and finally broke it open, scoring 5 in the bottom of the 5th, capped off by a 2 run Home Run.  With the score 10-7, the defense closed out the game for the Vikings in the top of the 6th.

Girard advanced to the South Regional Championship on Tuesday vs West Monroe North, who defeated Tioga to win the loser's bracket.  The Vikings opened a 3-0 lead in the 2nd, and never looked back, on the backs of the strong pitching and defense, and on a 5th inning 3 run Home Run, with Girard clinching the title with a 8-0 victory!

 

DIXIE YOUTH MAJORS - DISTRICT II TOURNAMENT 

The Dixie Youth Majors District II Tournament opened play @ Jefferson Playground, with the Vikings facing off in the First Round vs the Little Farms Pirates on Tuesday, June 8th.   The Pirates opened up a 1-0 lead early on, but the Vikings broke it open in the 3rd with an 8 run inning and a Grand Slam HR.  The Vikings defense locked down after spotting the early run and the offense added 3 runs in the bottom of the 4th, ending the game with a score of  11-1.

On Wednesday evening @ Jefferson in the Winner's Bracket Second Round, the Vikings fell to the Miley Cardinals, who steadily built their lead throughout the game behind their starting hurler.  However, in the last inning, the Vikings mounted a charge but ultimately lost by the score of 11-6.

With the loss, Girard falls into the Runner-up Bracket, the winner of which will advance to the South Regional Tournament in Ponchatoula.  The Vikings ventured to Pontiff on Thursday to meet the Lakeshore Indians in an elimination game, and started out with their version of Gorilla Ball, slamming 3 homers.  Lakeshore stayed in the game however to the end, with the Vikings prevailing 12-9.

Continuing in the 2nd Place Qualifier bracket, Girard met the loser of the District Championship Game,  the Pontiff Blue Devils at 7pm on Saturday @ Jefferson, by a score of 10-0.  The Vikings jumped out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning, and consistently built on it throughout the game.   The strong combination of Viking pitching and defense resulted in the shutout victory.

The District II tournament ended in long and dramatic fashion on Sunday with the Consolation Bracket Championship game between Girard and the Delta Eagles.   With the game tied at 2-2 after 3 innings, Delta went up by 2 runs by the end of the 4th.   With the Vikings still down by two runs at 5-3 in the top of the 6th - and with two outs and down to their last strike - the Vikings rallied to tie the game and send it into extra innings.  After a scoreless 7th inning, Girard scored 4 in the top of the 8th and held the Eagles to win the game 9-5, and advance to the South Regionals as the District II Runner-up.

 

Girard congratulates the Miley Cardinals on their District II Championship, and good luck in the North Regional in Many.

2008 GIRARD VIKINGS BASEBALL
14U Intramural Allstars   (Eastbank Runner-ups)
ROSTER
	#	PLAYERS	COACHES
		John Abide	Vincent Marziale
		Andre Benoit	John Nunez
		Christian Butera	Austin Glahn
		Stephen Cali	Louis Trocquet
		Jordan Clarius	Mac Bulloch
		Dustin Ducote
		Dylan Hitchins
		Dustin Matherne
		Brennan Minor
		Daniel Munoz
		TJ Robert
		Kyle Wilson
		Chris Winker

Notes	DATE	TIME	Team		Team	RESULT
PRE-SEASON GAMES  (4-2)
@ GIRARD	Wed - 09 Jul	7.00p	Brewers	vs	GIRARD 14U	L  4 - 6
@ Delta	Thu - 10 Jul	6.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Pontiff	W  12 - 1
@ GIRARD	Fri - 11 Jul	7.00p	Pelicans	vs	GIRARD 14U	W  7 - 5
@ Delta	Sat - 12 Jul	9.00a	GIRARD 14U	@	Delta	W  14 - 0
@ Delta	Sat - 12 Jul	4.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Little Farms	W  9 - 1
@ Miley	Sun - 13 Jul	3.00p	GIRARD 14U	@	Miley	L  0 - 3
SOUTH SUB -DISTRICT TOURNAMENT @ Jefferson
Gm2 = 1st Round	Tue - 15 Jul	8.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Lakeshore	L  3 - 5
Gm3 = 2nd Round Ellmination Game	Wed - 16 Jul	6.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Jefferson	W  4 - 3
Gm5 = 3rd Round Runner-up Qualifier	Thu - 17 Jul	7.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Lakeshore	W  3 - 2
EAST BANK CHAMPIONSHIP TOURNAMENT @ Jefferson
Gm1 = 1st Round	Mon - 21 Jul	7.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Miley	L  4 - 12
Gm3 = Elimination Game	Tue - 22 Jul	6.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Cleary	W  10 - 7
Gm5 = Elimination Game	Wed - 23 Jul	7.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Little Farms	W  13 - 2
Gm6 = Championship Game for Miley - Elimination Game for Girard	Thu - 24 Jul	7.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Miley	W  8 - 3
Gm7 = CHAMPIONSHIP GAME	Fri - 25 Jul	7.00p	GIRARD 14U	vs	Miley	L  2 - 6

13-14's end season as Eastbank Runner-ups

Topping 2007, when Girard won 2 Championships (U12 Girls, U12 Boys) - the 2008 Viking Soccer program won 3 titles this year. Starting out the run were the undefeated U12 Girls, who won their JPRD-East Championship last week. After a 1 day rain delay, the U10 Boys and U12 Boys took on their respective opponents - both from Lakeshore Playground. Both games were played simultaneously on the very muddy pitch at LaSalle Park on Wednesday night (2 APR). When it was all over both U10 and U12 teams were the JPRD-East Champions.

Congratulations to all four allstar teams, for a job well done!

Congratulations to the following Girard Allstar teams this summer:

  BASEBALL   

DIXIE YOUTH - LOUISIANA STATE MAJORS RUNNER-UPS    and

DIXIE YOUTH - LOUISIANA MAJORS SOUTH REGIONAL CHAMPIONS

Girard Vikings  11-12  Dixie Youth All-Stars

 

EASTBANK RUNNER-UPS

Girard Vikings  14U  Intramural All-Stars

Girard Vikings  9-10  All-Stars 

 

The Girard Vikings U12 Boys Allstars defended their 2007 crown, winning the JPRD-East Championship in the Final Four, defeating the Little Farms Pirates in the semifinal, and the Lakeshore Indians in the Championship Game by the score of 2-0. The Final Four semifinals had the Vikings defeating Little Farms 2-1,  and Lakeshore reached the final by defeating the Bright Falcons.

The U12 Boys reached the Final Four at LaSalle Park by defeating the Cleary Rebels 5-0, losing to the Lakeshore Indians 0-1, and finally clinching the 2nd seed by defeating Cleary in a rematch 3-0, which was scoreless and tight all the way down to the final minutes, when the Vikings delivered a barrage of 3 goals in short order.

In an earlier practice game @ Girard, the Vikings blanked Little Farms 4-0.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Girard Lady Vikings U12 Allstars went undefeated and also defended their JPRD-East Championship on Thursday, Mar 27 at LaSalle Park. Previously, they defeated the Little Farms Lady Pirates and shut out the Lakeshore Indians.

Introducing the 2008 GIRARD LADY VIKINGS:

Madison Camet, Skylar Grass, Shelby Comberrel, Danielle McClendon, Rachel Ledet, Kyla Jackson, Robyn Ledet, Lisa Sakamoto, Abigail Wright, Brittney Burke, Brooke Egan, Andie Cancienne, Caroline Wade, Megan Stemke, Katie Schoeder and Gabriella Perez

The Girard Vikings U10 Soccer Allstars went undefeated in 2008, winning the JPRD-East Championship in a muddy 1-0 battle over the Lakeshore Indians.  The Final Four semifinals had the Vikings defeating the Bright Falcons 6-1, and Lakeshore defeating Little Farms, setting up the title match.

Girard won their Sub-District with a 3-1 win over Lakeshore to advance to the Final Four at LaSalle Park.

The U10's played very well in early games, bagging victories versus the Little Farms Pirates 8-0, and the Delta Eagles 7-0.

Watch for your Girard Vikings in the National News!

Last week, Girard Playground's main sign on West Esplanade Avenue - damaged by Hurricane Katrina - was replaced.  The new sign, features a manual message board and our website address, and will replace the temporary signs we have been using for announcements to the public.

The Girard Dixie Youth baseball diamond - already one of the finest in the area, with our covered seating with cooling fans - is getting some more improvements on the visitors side of the field.  Hard pads for bleachers and a new sidewalks on both the DY field will save shoes on those muddy days, and will elevate the bleachers slightly.  Muddy areas were also elevated and resodded.

Field 3 (adjacent to the DY field) will also have a sidewalk behind the spectator area running down the 1st base line next to the parking lot, and hard pads will also be put down there as well.

Also, the new Scorer's Booth/Concession Stand on the Softball diamond is nearing completion.  The area has been landscaped and resodded.  This will make getting a soda or seeds more convenient, and will also allow Girard to host girls softball tournaments.

These improvements are another example of YOUR Booster Club dues at work to improve YOUR playground.  Watch for more to come!