Triche provides game-winner for Comets
Published 1:24 pm Tuesday, April 9, 2013
By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur
LAPLACE – On a day where St. Charles Catholic struggled to generate offense, Central Catholic’s Amanda Barron’s seventh inning solo home run certainly seemed like it would go down as the game’s deciding play.
But then the Comets sprang to life.
St. Charles’ Emily Triche registered the last of three consecutive hits to begin and end the bottom of the seventh inning, a game-winning single that plated Destiny Wesley to give SCC a 2-1 victory over Central Catholic on the Comets’ senior day and SCC’s final game of the regular season.
With the game tied 1-1. Triche lined a hot shot down off the glove of Barron, Central Catholic’s third baseman. The ball deflected into foul territory and it gave Wesley, who had just tied the game on an RBI triple, all the daylight she needed to score.
“She had been pitching me on the outside for the whole game,” said Triche. “So I knew I had to stay back and hit it the opposite way.
“We knew this was going to be a tough game. It should do a lot for us confidence wise and get us some power points to get a better seeding.”
St. Charles coach Ty Monica wasn’t happy with his team’s overall offensive approach, but credited his team for pulling together and doing what it had to do to come away with the win.
“We’ve been talking about responding to adversity all year. That’s exactly what we did today,” he said.
Central Catholic (23-6)entered Monday as the third-ranked team in Class 1A power points. The Eagles had pushed highly-ranked teams like Riverside and Teurlings Catholic in prior games and came close once again to landing an upset win.
The day featured a pitcher’s duel between SCC’s Chelsea Loupe and Central Catholic’s Megan Landry. Loupe earned the win, allowing one run on five hits, two walks and a hit batter. She struck out four. Landry allowed two runs on five hits and two walks. She struck out four.
Prior to the seventh inning, St. Charles (19-6) had just generated four baserunners and had no runners reach scoring position.
“We didn’t have many good at-bats today,” said Monica. “Whether it was because their focus picked up after (Central Catholic) scored or what, I’m not sure. But we pulled through.”
Barron led off the top of the seventh and broke a scoreless tie by blasting a home run off of the “Comets” sign in centerfield.
With SCC down to its final frame, Loupe led off and hit a ground ball down the first base line. Eagles first baseman Abbie Bergeron made the stop behind the bag and dove to beat Loupe, but the ball was bobbled and jarred free by the bag. Loupe was initially ruled out, but after the umpires huddled, the call was reversed.
“I thought they definitely got the call right,” said Central Catholic coach Joe Russo. “Abbie made a great effort on the play, but they made the correct call. Credit St. Charles for following up.”
With Sarah Louque on first as a courtesy runner, Wesley was the next to come up big, hammering a ball into centerfield, scoring Louque and eventually turning into a game-tying triple.
“That was huge. Destiny had a great at-bat, a great approach,” said Monica.
Then came Triche, who came up with the game-deciding hit after falling to her last strike.
On a day where SCC honored its seven senior players, one of them said the final push came down to desire.
“It’s all about passion,” said Loupe. “You’ve got to want to be in that position.”