CROWLEY – Pitching was the key for the Crowley Millers in their American Legion season-opening victory over Notre Dame Tuesday evening.

It was the same story again Thursday evening in their District 7-East opener.

Four Millers’ pitchers combined for a one-hit shutout in a 5-0 victory over the Opelousas Seminoles at Miller Stadium.

“That’s a good sign for us, that we have so many guys that can get up there and throw,” said Millers’ coach Timmy Robichaux, who used four different hurlers in the victory. “We don’t have to overpitch anybody and it’s pretty promising that we’re going to throw strikes. Especially hitting with wood, or trying to defense against wood, you want to get in there and throw strikes.”

Crowley’s quartet of pitchers pounded the strike zone the entire night and faced just 24 batters, three over the minimum.

Gavin Bourgeois started things off, striking out one and walking one in two innings of work. Paiton McBride threw the following two innings and struck out two and walked one.

Mackay Mouton took the mound for the fifth and sixth innings and struck out three while walking one before giving way to Quinn Guidry in the seventh. Guidry gave up a leadoff single, an infield hit, but got two flyouts and a strikeout to end the contest.

The pitching staff also got a big boost from their defense. Crowley High catcher Brody Deshotel gunned down two runners, both who had walked, on steal attempts and Luke Ancelet made a number of nice grabs in the outfield, including an over-the-shoulder grab in deep center field.

“Everybody got out there and played well,” said Robichaux. “The guys that tried to steal, Brody gunned them down and Luke made some good catches in center. That’s what we really need to have. If we keep pitching well and playing good defense, we’ll be in all the games.”

Offensively, the Millers got off to another slow start by logging just one hit in the first two innings off Opelousas southpaw Hunter Benoit.

However, Ancelet’s one-out triple to right center field in the third inning sparked a rally. Bourgeois followed with a walk before Ancelet scored on a throwing error. Mouton then drove in a run with a single to center and Deshotel plated a run with a bases-loaded walk to put the Millers up 3-0.

The Millers plated their final two runs in the fifth inning on a single to center by McBride and an infield single by Deshotel.

“We got a little more comfortable at the plate as the game went on,” said Robichaux. “Their lefty was doing pretty well early on so for us to get some runs and get him out of there in the third inning was big.”

Overall, the Millers had eight hits on the night. McBride and Connor Goss each went 2-for-3 while Deshotel had one hit and two RBI. Mouton singled and drove in one run while Ancelet and Dillan Gilbert each had one hit.

The Millers participated in the Acadiana tournament this weekend in Lafayette but results were unavailable at press time.