By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

RESERVE – A tough slate of opponents left Riverside with an 0-3 mark at the weekend’s Brusly tournament, the Rebels falling to Teurlings Catholic 5-3, to Brusly 8-5 and to Barbe 13-5.

The Rebels (1-3) held a lead in the fifth inning or later in all three games, perhaps the toughest loss coming against Teurlings in Friday’s opener. In that game, RA led 3-1 entering the seventh inning, where the Bulldogs scored four runs to capture the victory. 

“We had two outs and then we allowed them to score four runs (in the seventh inning),” said Riverside coach Kristy Hebert. “We made some errors that really hurt us. We left that one knowing that if we make the routine plays, we leave with a 3-1 win instead of a 5-3 loss.”

Riverside notched two hits in the game, by Peyton Sutton and Toni Perrin. It’s three runs came in the fourth inning, two  of those on passed balls.

Cheyenne Triche started and went the complete game for Riverside. She allowed eight hits, walked five and struck out two. 

In the Rebels’ second game of the weekend, a Saturday showdown with Barbe, things went awry from the fourth inning on. Barbe scored 12 runs over the final four innings of play to break open what was a 6-5 game in the fifth inning. 

Triche went four innings for Riverside, allowing six hits, walking two and striking out three. Megan Hymel allowed nine hits in 2.1 innings, while Toni Hebert pitched a scoreless 0.2 innings. 

At the plate, Triche went 2 for 3 with four RBIs and Madison Watson went 3 for 4, including two doubles, for Riverside. Perrin, Sutton and Hailey Tassin each collected two hits.

An uncharacteristic five errors proved costly for Riverside. 

“It was disappointing,” said Kristy Hebert. “We kept giving them extra outs.”

In the final game on Saturday night, Brusly scored five fifth inning runs to erase a 5-3 Riverside lead and take an 8-5 victory in a matchup of the 2013 Class 3A champion and Class 2A runner up. 

Toni Hebert went 3 for 4 with a double and an RBI. Tassin went 2 for 4 with a home run and two RBIs. Jamie Milioto went 2-for-4. 

Toni Hebert started the game on the mound and went three innings, allowing six hits, walking two and striking out three. Triche went four innings, allowing seven hits. 

Kristy Hebert said that while the losses sting, she knew that a tournament offering such strong competition early in the season would highlight the things a retooled Rebels roster had to work on.

“It exposes the weaknesses you have and lets you know what needs to be improved. And we know those things now,” she said. “I knew those were three strong hitting teams. For the most part, it was one bad inning in each game and a handful of errors that did us in.”

Riverside will make up last week’s home rainout against Mount Carmel today at 4 p.m. Then, on Thursday, the Rebels will host Dominican at 4 p.m.