Comets rain down runs on John Curtis

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, April 28, 2010

By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – St. Charles always seems to find its way to Sulphur. Rain or shine.

On a cloudy day where light drizzle and heavy rains alternately peppered the Comets’ softball field, St. Charles nonetheless put district rival John Curtis away for the third time this season, downing the Patriots 13-2 in a regional round Class 2A playoff game.

The top-seeded Comets finished things off in five innings by the 10-run rule to move on to the state softball tournament at Frasch Park in Sulphur. SCC will face No. 8 Sterlington at 4 p.m. in the quarterfinal round Friday.

Megan Louque (11-3) collected the victory. She allowed four hits and walked two while striking out eight.

“She battled the elements,” said St. Charles coach Ty Monica. “A wet ball, a slick surface. She fought through adversity.”

Said Louque: “Before the game, I was a bit worried about the weather conditions. But I knew I had to fight through.

“Now that it’s all said and done, I’ve never been more excited and ready for the next challenge.”

It took only one inning for the Comets to leave little doubt that they would be making yet another trip to Sulphur.

Katie Duhe singled to lead off the bottom of the first inning, Dominique DiCarlo walked and Meg Gustafson was hit by a pitch with one out to load the bases. That brought up Kadie Levatino, who singled up the middle to bring home two runs, putting SCC ahead 2-0.

Jen Heltz walked to load the bases again, and a Curtis error on a ball hit by Candace McGaff made it a 3-0 advantage. It grew to 4-0 when Katie Terrio walked to force in a run, then to 5-0 when Jaymie Remondet did the same.

“Yesterday I challenged them to start strong, to put doubt in the opponent’s minds,” said Monica. “When you have doubts, you play slower.”

That forced Curtis starter Priscilla Burns from the game, but the SCC onslaught continued — its next batter received an ovation from the crowd as Courtney Western came on to pinch hit, her first action since suffering a knee injury two weeks ago against Lutcher.

Western drew a walk to make it 6-0.

“I put her in since I figured they’d have to pitch to her in that situation,” said Monica. “But she didn’t see a strike.”

Then Dominique DiCarlo hit a chopper and reached on an infield hit, making it 7-0.

Gustafson came back up and drilled a two-run double to the outfield to push things to 9-0, and DiCarlo scored later on a wild pitch to make it a 10-run spread after the first inning.

SCC added two more runs in the second inning on a leadoff triple by Jennifer Heltz and run-scoring singles by McGaff and Terrio.

Curtis avoided a shutout on a third inning RBI single by Alison Grabert and a fifth inning double by Jessica Maunoir.

But when Grabert popped out to Gustafson at first base to end the fifth inning, the Comets punched their ticket to Sulphur.