By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – His team in the midst of its longest winning streak of the season, St. Charles coach Ty Monica said before his Comets’ District 9-2A clash with John Curtis Thursday that we would all see whether or not his team had improved from the first round of district play – one in which SCC dropped games to Riverside and the Patriots.

In that first Curtis game, Monica said that his team just didn’t make the clutch plays late.

But that wasn’t so on Thursday. Jaymie Remondet’s two-run home run in the fifth inning broke a 2-2 tie and helped propel the Comets to a 6-3 win in LaPlace to keep hopes of a district championship alive.

“Before our first game with them, I didn’t feel like we were ready,” said Monica. “It was early, and I didn’t think we were playing well enough. Today, I had a much better feeling. We didn’t play a flawless game, and a lot of credit goes to them. But we’ve been playing better in the last couple of weeks, and it showed again today.”

A loss would have all but eliminated St. Charles (15-3, 4-2)) from District 9-2A contention. But SCC now sits tied in the loss column with Curtis (7-5, 3-2), each team boasting two losses. Riverside sits at 4-0. A Comets win over the Rebels Tuesday would open the possibility of a three-way tie if Curtis were to defeat Riverside next Friday (in a game rescheduled due to Tuesday’s rainstorm).

“We’ll be John Curtis’ biggest fans (in that scenario),” said Monica. “But we’ve got plenty of business of our own to take care of before we worry about that.”

St. Charles took a 2-1 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning on Chelsea Loupe’s RBI single that followed walks by Katie Terrio and Heather Orillion.

In the top of the fifth, though, Curtis answered on Pepper Baicer’s RBI single, knocking in Rachel Brockhaus, who had reached on an error to lead off the inning.

With two on and two out, SCC’s Megan Louque struck out opposing pitcher Katie Brignac to preserve the tie. Then she went to work with her bat in the fifth, lacing a single to right field.

With two outs, Remondet stepped to the plate and delivered, blasting a home run to dead center field and making it 4-2.

“I had two strikes on me, and I knew I had to come up as a senior and help my team get a run home,” said Remondet. “We needed one, and to get two … it feels amazing to have my first home run (of the season) come in such a big game.”

“That was one of the furthest balls I’ve seen hit out of this park,” said Monica.

Remondet noted that her error at third base in the previous inning helped give Curtis a chance to tie, and her at-bat helped her rectify the mistake.

“I let a pitch on the outside go in a spot that I liked it, and I knew I let a good ball go past,” said Remondet. “But I regrouped … I knew I had to do the job for our team.”

Curtis cut the SCC lead to one on Brockhaus’ RBI single on a flare to right in the sixth. But in the bottom half, the Patriots’ defense betrayed them and SCC took advantage. Terrio hit a ball to left field that was misplayed – she’d race to third, then Orillion reached on an error at third base. She’d keep running, and Curtis’ attempt to catch her at second led to Jessica Mire (running for Terrio) to score.

Loupe hit another ball to third, where Priscilla Burns faked a throw to first, then instead tried to catch Orillion (who advanced on a passed ball) at third. But an errant throw brought Orillion home to make it 6-3.

In the top of the seventh, Louque retired the side in order, striking out Baicer to end it.

District 9-2A boasts three teams that entered the week within the top 12 in power points – Riverside (1), Curtis (2) and St. Charles (12). The teams have combined for just nine losses, four coming within the district itself.

Louque said that she and her teammates knew that they were in for another battle.

“It’s nerve wracking (to play in that district),” said Louque. “We take it on as a responsibility to come out and play well. We had a goal today and we pushed ourselves to meet it.”