Leesville, La. - It was the year of the senior on the all-Vernon Parish baseball team, as chosen by the sports department of the Leesville Daily Leader. Of the 25 players named first-team all-parish, a total of 14 recently graduated from high school, meaning only 11 players have the possibility of repeating as members of the team next year. Two of the 14 seniors — Christopher Soileau of Hornbeck and Leesville's Troy Harry — were award winners, taking home Most Valuable Player and Defensive Player of the Year accolades. Four other seniors — Hicks' Josh Gordy, Simpson's Kade Martin and the Pitkin duo of Justin Dowden and Chris McKee — made up the all-parish infield. Gordy was responsible for a .429 batting average with 15 RBIs as the all-parish first baseman, while Martin batted .350 on the year for the Broncos as he was chosen at shortstop. Dowden, a second baseman for the Tigers, and McKee, who played predominantly at third base for Pitkin, round out the all-parish infield with batting averages of .529 and .333, respectively. Of the six utility spots on the team, five of those went to seniors. With the lone exception being Rosepine sophomore Klint White, who batted .435 for the Eagles in district play, the utility spots on the squad went to Rosepine's Chase Blankenbaker, Pickering's Chasen Bush, Leesville's Joe Tyson and the Anacoco duo of Ryan Bush and Daniel Jeane. Blankenbaker was a second-team all-district pitcher for the Eagles as he was 1-1 with a save in league play. Bush, a first-team all-district performer in 4-2A at utility, was responsible for a .540 batting average and a .643 on-base percentage. Tyson was an all-district selection by the coaches in 3-4A at shortstop as he batted .389 with a home run and 10 RBIs. Bush, a first-team all-state pick in Class B, batted .565 and had 18 RBIs for the Indians, while teammate Daniel Jeane, who tossed a four-hitter against Stanley and a one-hitter against Zwolle in the playoffs, batted .355 with two homers and 16 RBIs in league play. The three remaining seniors on the all-Vernon Parish team are Pitkin outfielder Jake Deason, Evans' catcher Chris Smith and Hicks' pitcher Ryan Hagan. Deason, a repeat member of the all-parish team in the outfield, batted .442 in district play for the Tigers with 10 RBIs, while Smith was the top hitter for the Eagles in league play, sporting a .529 mark with two homers and 12 RBIs. Hagan, a solid hitter for the Pirates, was their most reliable pitcher as well, sporting a solid 3.00 ERA in league play with a 3-3 record. Hagan is joined on the all-parish pitching staff by Hornbeck junior Heath Smith, Simpson junior Chance Moore and Rosepine sophomore Brandon Russell. Smith and Moore were both first-team all-district picks at pitcher by the coaches in 5-B, while Russell was a first-team utility pick by the coaches in 4-2A as he sported a .500 batting average. Joining Deason in the all-parish outfielder was Rosepine junior John Mark Holliday and Hicks' sophomore Zakk Rogerson. Holliday, also a member of the all-parish football team, batted .364 for the Eagles with nine RBIs, while Rogerson had a .355 mark with 10 stolen bases. The remaining members of the team are award winners — Anacoco junior Kyle Hearn (Offensive Player of the Year), Pitkin junior Trevor West (Pitcher of the Year) and Pitkin freshman Kendal Abel (Newcomer of the Year), along with catchers Paul Willis of Pitkin and Kyle Summitt of Anacoco. Willis batted .442 with 15 RBIs for the Tigers, while Summitt drove in seven runs with a .323 batting average. Those players making honorable mention all-parish were the Pickering quartet of Chris Young, Mitch Dowden, Joey Smith and Gett Thomas, the Rosepine quartet of Randall Aycock, Grant Keel, Justin Simmons and Rustin Woodard, the Leesville duo of Zack Fruge and Tyler Anders, the Hicks quartet of Justin Underwood, Aaron Parker, Michael Borders and Seth Wellman, the Simpson trio of Jared Parker, Zach West and Kevin Martin, Rico Garcia of Evans, the Pitkin trio of Blane Perkins, Slade Deason and Cade Weldon, the Hornbeck quartet of Austin Driskill, Matthew Alford, Zack Staddon and Justin Alford and the Anacoco duo of Josh Deon and Trent Cole.