By Pamela Seal
Diocese of Lake Charles
LAKE CHARLES — The 2024 Bishop’s Invitational Wiffle Ball Classic stretched into an extra inning on Saturday, August 3, with Team Seminarians holding on to their championship title. They claimed an 11-10 nail-biting victory over Team Priests as Luka Hagen, a new seminarian to the team, crossed home plate in the Immaculate Conception Cathedral School gymnasium to break the tie game.
for the Seminary Fund as winners of the 2024 Bishop’s Invitational
Wiffle Ball Classic on August 6 at Immaculate Conception Cathedral
School. Presenting the check is Jennifer Page, Serra Club President.
What appeared to be a shutout by the Seminarians, 7-0 at the bottom of the fourth inning, the Priests would finally show up putting six runs on the board in the fifth inning. From there, it was anybody’s guess to see which team would triumph as the score remained tied 8-8 in the sixth inning and then 10-10 in the seventh inning.
“After we jumped into an early lead, we had our momentum going, but once we hit the fifth inning stretch, the priests came out swinging giving them a chance to rebound,” said Cameron Fontenot, team captain for the Seminarians. “We managed to put enough runs together to keep us tied in the sixth and seventh innings and then score the one run that mattered.”
As champions for a second year in a row, the Seminarians received a $2,000 check for the Diocesan Seminarian Burse Fund. The Priests walked away with $1,000 for the Priests Retirement Fund, so there are no big losers no matter who gets the trophy.
The annual wiffle ball game is a fundraiser for the Serra Club that supports the Office of Vocations in the Diocese of Lake Charles.
bidding war for an autographed Wiffle Ball T-shirt with signatures
of all the Seminarian players. They both agreed to donate $2,000
to support the Office of Vocations for the Diocese of Lake Charles
and each receive a framed shirt. Seminarian Luka Hagen, godson
to Nalani, is seen holding one of theframed shirts during the
Wiffle Ball game intermission.
The Seminarians are responsible for more than putting points on the scoreboard. They also helped raise extra funds during an intermission live auction of a framed autographed Wiffle Ball T-shirt with their signatures. Seminarian Seth Rodriguez traded in his batting arm for his auctioneering chant to the tune of $4,000.
The bidding war between Cathy Leonard (mother to Liam Leonard) and Nalani Broussard (godmother to Luka Hagen) climbed to $1,000 in minutes before escalating to $2,000.
Father Michael Caraway, Director of Vocations, reached an agreement with the two benefactors that they would each donate $2,000 and both receive autographed shirts.
Cathy and her husband Kevin Leonard are parishioners of Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church in Sulphur, and Nalani and her husband Aaron Broussard are parishioners of the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception.
Also bidding $200 for a framed autographed T-shirt with signatures of the priests was Adron Little, a parishioner of St. Theresa of the Child Jesus in Carlyss.
Fund after they lost 11-10 to the semarians in the 2024 Bishop’s
Invitational Wiffle Ball Classic on August 3 at ICCS.
Calling the live auction a huge success, Father M. Caraway said, “The big winner today was the Serra Club. We raised funds that we were hoping to and even more. We are very grateful to the people of God and those who came out to support the Serra Club, which supports the Office of Vocations.”
Liam said he realized nearly right away that his mother was one of the competitive bidders and figured she would not let up.
“It (vocations to the priesthood) is something that means a lot to her. She would love to have something commemorated with all of us (seminarians),” he remarked.
A game day highlight for Liam was seeing fellow seminarian Hunter LaRocca’s enthusiasm after making his first home run for the team.
“After Hunter hit a homerun and he ran all the bases, he came back to the lineup and said, ‘It only took me 28 years, but I made it memorable.’”
Besides making the final victory run, Luka hit a homerun in the third inning.
“As a new seminarian, I felt accepted by making a couple of runs for the team,” said Luka. “I know our training at Saint Charles Center had everything to do with our win today. If the priests would have prepared, the score could have been in their favor.”
Luka said he was “extremely excited” to see his godmother in the crowd and was happy for her donation for the auction.
“Last year I was in the stands, so it was a surreal experience to be on the field with the priests and seminarians,” he said. “It felt good to see my family in the stands cheering me on.”
Team Priests included:
- Father Michael Caraway (Vocations Director)
- Father Joseph Caraway (Chancellor and Director of Liturgy)
- Father D.B. Thompson (Promoter of Justice and Judge, Diocesan Tribunal)
- Father Paul Jussen (Pastor, Our Lady of Good Counsel Catholic Church)
- Father Michael Beverung (Parochial Vicar, Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception)
- Father Andrew DeRouen (Parochial Vicar, Our Lady of Prompt Succor)
- Father Josh Page (Parochial Vicar, Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church)
- Father Jenesh Joseph, HGN (Pastor, St. John Bosco Catholic Church)
- Father Pradeep Gali, HGN (St. Joan of Arc Catholic Church)
- Father Levi Thompson (Parochial Vicar, St. Henry Catholic Church)
Team Seminarians consisted of Hunter LaRocca, Philip Seilhan, Michael DesOrmeaux, Liam Leonard, Seth Rodriguez, Justin Fontenot, Logan, Guillot, Cameron Fontenot, Luka Hagen, and Riley Edwards.
For more information on the Office of Vocations, visit www.lcvocations.com or email This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it..
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