Comets top RA 11-6 in softball showdown
Published 12:02 am Saturday, March 19, 2016
- SCC pitcher Kelsie Williams winds up for a pitch against Riverside. Williams pitched 5 1/3 innings, giving up eight hits and walking one Tuesday.
LAPLACE — It’s a common saying around St. John the Baptist Parish: Riverside Academy and St. Charles Catholic could play Tiddlywinks and it would be an intense battle with a huge crowd.
St. Charles Catholic third baseman Destiny Wesley stands at third after one of her two hits against the Rebels on Tuesday. Wesley slid hard under the tag of Rebels’ third baseman Madison Watson. (Lori Lyons/L’OBSERVATEUR)
That certainly was true Tuesday.
A standing-room-only crowd packed into the tiny confines of St. Charles Catholic’s softball field for the first meeting of the season between arch-rivals Riverside and St. Charles. There were fans in the bleachers, along the fences and some trying to peek through holes in the windscreens. There were even fans in the adjacent football bleachers — and one coach — trying to get a view of the battle.
Battle it was. Riverside took an early lead before the Lady Comets rallied to take an 11-6 victory. St. Charles finished with eight hits, Riverside with 7, including three home runs. The difference was defense. Riverside committed four critical errors.
“We made too many boo boos,” Rebels coach Tamra Regalo said. “We started strong out of the gate.”
Riverside took the early lead on a solo home run by second baseman Janie Milioto. K.C. Becnel also hit a solo home run and Carli Hymel got her first high school home run — a grand slam — in the sixth. The Lady Rebels finished with seven hits.
Riverside held onto its 1-0 lead until the bottom of the third inning, when St. Charles broke the game open.
The Comets scored four runs in the third and six runs in the fifth on the way to an 11-6 win. St. Charles finished with 8 hits. Morgan Nobile had three hits and scored two runs. Lela Hill doubled, walked twice, scored two runs and drove in two runs. Destiny Wesley had two hits and three RBIs.
Comets coach Ty Monica, who watched the last four innings from the football bleachers after being ejected, said it was a typical Riverside-St. Charles game in which no lead is ever enough.
“Even to that last out I didn’t really relax,” Monica said.
“Those are two very good softball teams. I don’t feel like any lead is really ever safe. We knew they were capable of coming back so, I knew it would take 21 outs not matter how we played.”
The two will meet again on March 31 at Riverside.
In the meantime, Monica said he has spent more time watching the skies than his team play.
St. Charles has seen chunks of its schedule wiped out by rain (and a tornado).
Heading into Tuesday’s game, Monica said his team had gone 10 days without playing an actual game.
“I was very surprised about the way they came out after having not played for that length of time,” he said.
Regalo said her team needs to work on its defense.
“We showed we can hit the long ball,” she said.
The win improved St. Charles to 9-1 on the season.
Riverside dropped to 9-4.
Weather permitting, Riverside is scheduled to play Central Lafourche at 4:30 p.m. today in the Lutcher Tournament.
St. Charles is scheduled to play a double header today — Teurlings Catholic at 8:30 a.m. and Lutcher at 2:30 p.m. — also in the Lutcher Tournament.
The West St. John Lady Rams posted a 35-19 win over White Castle Tuesday.
The East St. John softball team continues to struggle under first-year coach Lester Jenkins. The Lady Wildcats have been unable to post a victory in District 6-5A play., and they are 4-9 overall.
East St. John is scheduled to play at noon today at Chapelle.
