By JOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

METAIRIE – St. Charles’ Cretin Homes squad packed their bags for a road game at East Jefferson High School against Belle Office Machines last Friday afternoon, which decided who would advance in the American Legion baseball playoffs for the western division, district II tournament. And after a see-saw game that had Cretin Homes in the lead with just an inning and a half to go, the SCC squad wrapped up summer play with a 7-6 loss.

It was hopeful all the way through in this one for the LaPlace fans as Cretin Homes got a lift from pitcher Michael Oncale who took the mound in the bottom of the first with a 3-0 deficit. Oncale got out of the inning while giving up just one more run before his team scored four of their own to pull back into even.

They led Belle Office with two outs in the top of the fourth after Corey Reed laid down a sharp hit to the third baseman as Matt Erickson approached from second. The advancing runner gave pause to the third baseman, who then overthrew first allowing Erickson to score for a 6-5 lead.

But the West Jeff team spoiled all of that with a pair of runs in the bottom of the sixth to put Cretin Homes up against the wall. They didn’t pack it in as they managed to put on a base-runner, but the Belle Office defense held up and they took the win.

Cretin Homes showed resilience early on, overcoming a difficult first inning where Belle Office took advantage of a couple of a pair of walks to help load the bases. The bases were cleared with a pair of 2-RBI singles before Oncale forced the final batter of the inning to ground out.

Scoring in the second inning began with Alex Marse chopping the ball over the pitcher’s head for an RBI single before Steven Duhe followed up with a shot to deep left field that went for an RBI double. Jonathan Cancienne came up next and took a walk to load the bases for Reed who hit another double, this one for two runs and a tied score. They took the lead briefly in the third when SCC’s Matt Walters scored on a double steal after an errant throw from second to home plate, but Belle Office knocked a homer in their side to make it 4-4.

Chris Waguespack led the St. Charles team with two of their three hits on the day. The loss wrapped up the season with a 5-8 record for legion play.