By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

ST. AMANT – East St. John came within a few plays of scoring a monumental upset victory Tuesday over softball power St. Amant, but the Gators scored a pair of runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to edge the Wildcats 6-5 in a District 6-5A game.

“It was a great game,” said East St. John coach Monica Hebert. “We really showed up to compete. Everyone was heartbroken afterwards, but just like I told them, if we could put that effort out there every day and play like that, win or lose, I’d always accept that. We played to our potential and it was good to see.”

East St. John (1-10-1, 0-2) scored five runs in the top of the third inning to take a 5-1 lead.

“Shaela Millet led off with a base hit and just like that, one after another we were just finding holes. Not hard shots, but we put them where they needed to be,” said East St. John coach Monica Hebert. “They had a couple of errors and we capitalized.”

St. Amant (12-1-1) responded with three runs in the bottom of the fourth.

An error proved to be a factor in the seventh inning as an errant throw after a bunt led to the Gators tying the game at 5 before plating the winning run on a single in its final at bat.

Kayla Bourgeois and Jessica Sanford each went 2-for-4 with two RBIs for East St. John. Jasmine Brown was 2-for-4 with one RBI.

Samantha Owen pitched the complete game for ESJ, allowing four earned runs on five hits.

She struck out two and walked two.

“After the third, we were putting the ball in play but we couldn’t push any more across,” said Hebert.

Thursday, the Wildcats drew another powerhouse in East Ascension.

This time, the Ladycats had no answers for the opposition as the Spartans (12-1) captured a 16-0 victory in four innings by the 15-run rule.

“Just too many walks, a couple errors and a few base hits,” said Hebert. “It was just a different story from Tuesday. We didn’t have it.”