by RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

RESERVE – St. Charles went to Riverside Tuesday with payback — and survival in the District 9-2A race — in mind.

But as they’ve done all season, the Rebels continue to win. Riverside chalked up its 20th consecutive victory and moved to 24-1 on the season with a 3-1 victory over the rival Comets.

“It’s a big win, an intense game,” said Riverside coach Kristy Hebert. “St. Charles is a very good team. Last time it was 3-2, this time 3-1. It’s just a battle between two strong teams.”

Said Riverside catcher Katie Bailey, who collected two RBIs, “We knew this was a big game. But we didn’t want to make it seem bigger than it needed to be. We came out here and swung the bats and kept doing what we’ve been doing.”

The top-ranked Rebels were set to play Class 2A No. 2 John Curtis on Friday at Riverside, after press time. But with the Rebels’ victory 13-2 over McGehee Thursday, Riverside (24-1, 6-0) has now clinched at least a share of the district crown and are likely to secure the outright title, barring a major upset at the hands of Haynes next week.

Riverside speared ready to blow the game open in the first inning, but St. Charles wouldn’t allow it. Walks to Taylor Terrio and Destin Vicknair and a single by Kristy Milioto loaded the bases, and pitcher Megan Louque’s walk of Katie Bailey forced home a run and put Riverside ahead 1-0 with no outs.

St. Charles (17-5, 4-3) escaped what could have been a messy inning though when Louque got Kori Bourgeois to fly out, Kelsi Roussel to line out and Jenna Roussel to pop out in the infield.

While now trailing, it seemed to charge SCC up entering the next inning. Emily Triche led off the second with a double, and three batters later Karli Terrio singled her in to tie the game with two outs.

“At that point, I just stressed that we had to answer,” said Hebert. “We couldn’t let them take back the momentum.”

The Rebels immediately responded to take the lead, again loading the bases with no outs. Megan Stein singled to centerfield to start things off, then Toni Hebert bunted and got on via a throwing error. Taylor Terrio bunted for an infield single and two batters later, Vicknair singled home a pair of runs. Bailey followed with an RBI single of her own to make it 3-1. A potential fourth run was negated on a Bourgeois single, as the Comets tagged out Chelsie Cupit at third before a run scored.

“We’re hitting pretty well right now,” said Bailey. “When you see those runners on base, you feel like you have to step up when it’s your turn.”

“We just put it in play,” said Coach Hebert. “Make them make plays. We took advantage of a couple of errors.”

Hebert noted that part of the team’s success has been its ability to generate offense from any part of the order. That came to fruition as Stein and Hebert kickstarted things from the eighth and ninth spots.

“We know anyone in our lineup can get us going,” said Hebert. “They’ve all stepped up at different times, and Megan got things started there.”

Riverside threatened in the fourth to extend the lead when Terrio and Vicknair reached, but Louque struck out Bailey to end the threat. Ditto in the fifth, when Jenna Roussel and Stein each drew walks with two outs, but Louque induced a flyout to Hebert to end it.

Vicknair cruised through the third, fourth and fifth innings, only allowing a single hit (Jaymie Remondet’s double to left). But back-to-back singles by Chelsea Loupe and Louque led off the sixth. Vicknair shut down that threat as well, recording three straight outs. Then, in the seventh, SCC’s Katie Terrio walked and Heather Orillion doubled with one out. But Vicknair struck out Kati Duhe and Loupe to end the game.

“Destin came up with two big strikeouts there,” said Coach Hebert. “She came up big all day.”