By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

DEQUINCY – It looked like top-seeded St. Charles was ready to dismiss the notion of any upset with some late inning force, as it erased a 7-0 DeQuincy lead by scoring six runs in the sixth and seventh innings and brought the go-ahead run to the plate.

But abruptly, the rally ended. With Grant Authement at second, No. 17 DeQuincy struck out Nick Reine to end the game and advance to the Class 2A quarterfinals, a 7-6 regional round victor Tuesday.

“They were the better team that day,” said St. Charles coach Paul Waguespack. “Things just didn’t unfold well for us. Our bats didn’t really wake up until the sixth inning.

“It’s like I told their coach. ‘You beat us. No excuses.’ They deserved to win.”

For St. Charles (29-6), it was a painfully bitter loss for a team that entered the postseason among the hottest squads in prep ball. The Comets had won six straight and 18 of 19 before Tuesday’s game.

“We had a good year. But, obviously we didn’t reach our goal,” said Waguespack.”

The Tigers (21-8) jumped all over the Comets early, scoring three runs in the first, one in the second, and three more in the third to take a 7-0 lead. DeQuincy took advantage of six hits, a walk and two errors to pile up their runs.

“It became an uphill climb for us,” said Waguespack. “And we never made it to the top.”

The Comets only mustered two hits — by Brady Hitt and Brandon Becker — entering the sixth inning, when the Comet offense finally began to stir.

Hitt led off the inning with a solo home run to make it 7-1. Matt Bonnecarre doubled, and Marc Picciola slammed another home run to make it 7-3. Becker doubled, Authement singled, and Reine registered a sacrifice fly to make it a three run game. Authement stole third, then scored on a passed ball to cut it to 7-5 entering the seventh.

In the seventh, Picciola walked and Authement singled him home to make it a one run game with two outs.

But that’s where the rally ended.

“It’s disappointing whether you get to the final game in lose, or whether you lose early on,” said Waguespack. “It’s always disappointing. We didn’t take care of business.”