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by RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

LAPLACE – It wasn’t an ideal start to the day for St. Charles catcher Raven Becnel. But the ending was just right.

Becnel’s walk-off solo home run in the bottom of the seventh inning Tuesday lifted her Comets to a 3-2 win over Covington on Tuesday in the final regular season game for both teams.

The junior had struck out in her first two at bats but finished the day 2-for-4 with a double and the game-winning shot.

“What you really like to see as a coach is someone handling adversity and responding,” said St. Charles coach Ty Monica. “She struck out twice on eight pitches, then she’s down 0-2 in her third at-bat.

“Instead of striking out again, she rips a double down the line. Then the home run … even taking the home run out of it, seeing her adjust like she did was what you like to see.”

It was the second homer of the day for St. Charles (20-5). Jaymie Remondet hit one in the second inning. Megan Louque added an RBI single in the fourth.

Covington (17-9) led 1-0 in the second inning. Remondet and Louque combined to life SCC into the lead before Covington tied the game at two in the fifth.

“It’s always good to end with a win. Losses always put doubt in your mind,” said Monica. “It was our 20th victory, and for five straight years we’ve won 20-plus games. We pride ourselves on that.

“Covington’s a good team and the type of team we’re going to be seeing in the playoffs.”

But Monica also said that his team, which was to find out Friday who its first round playoff opponent would be, knows it can do even more.

“You could see it in their eyes, that they know there’s so much more we can do,” he said.

“Not even talking about winning games. Physically, getting better. There’s so much room for improvement. And I think they all understand that.”