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LAPLACE — Less than two months after claiming the Division III title, St. Charles Catholic’s baseball team is positioning itself for another playoff run.

Playing under the team name Cretin Townsend Homes, the Comets are currently competing in the newly-formed Crescent City Sports Summer Prep League. St. Charles Catholic entered the week holding the No. 4 position in the summer league with a 9-3-1 record.

As of June 23, Retif Oil (Jesuit), Malcolm Dienes (Archbishop Rummel), and the River Ridge Patriots (John Curtis Christian) were ranked in the top three positions. The top four teams in the Crescent City League will advance to a single-elimination playoff tournament scheduled for July 6-7 at Lutcher High School.

“If the season would end today, we would advance, but it’s still kind of tight,” head coach Wayne Stein said early this week. “There are some things that could happen in the next couple of days that could move us up or move us down.”

St. Charles Catholic has played three or four games per week since the summer league kicked off on May 31. Last week, Townsend Homes tied the River Ridge Patriots 7-7 on June 20 and followed up with a 10-0 shutout win over five innings against Lutcher on June 23.

The team was back in action Monday evening with an 8-0 shut-out win against Ascension Catholic. Brandon Kraegle and Jackson Monica took care of business on the mound. Kraegle and Ian Arnett each went two for four at bat, when Brayden Bertucci went three for four with two RBIs. St. Charles Catholic also managed to steal 12 bases during the game.

Stein said the Crescent City Sports Summer Prep League presents an opportunity to develop a well-rounded pitching staff. While the Comets have returned experienced pitchers Brady St. Pierre and Michael Hotard from the championship team, each of those guys have only thrown eight innings all summer.

“We returned a lot of players from the state championship team, so the focus has kind of been getting a lot of those other guys reps, at bats, and throwing some different guys up on the mound,” Stein said. “We’ve broken up every game between two, three or four kids pitching. Right now, we are getting what we want out of it. Our kids have played well, and hopefully that’s a precursor of what’s to come.”

Archbishop Shaw, Brother Martin, De La Salle, Hahnville, Holy Cross, John Curtis, Lakeshore, Lutcher, Newman, North Shore and St. Paul’s are also part of the highly competitive summer league.

St. Charles Catholic hosted Newman after press time Tuesday night and will host St. Aug today in a non-league game. The Crescent City season wraps up Thrusday as the Comets travel to Chalmette with hopes of advancing to next week’s semifinals.