MICHAEL KIRAL / L’Observateur / June 3, 2000

RESERVE – Riverside and St. Charles Catholic are taking differentapproaches to the Metro Softball season this summer.

With experience coming back next year, Riverside coach Matt White has split up his team so that all his players, both new and returning, have a chance to play.

“I’m trying to get the young girls a lot of playing time but I don’t want to sacrifice the old girls,” White said. “We’re bring 20 girls back so we splitthe teams. I try to split it down the middle. They know if they are playingthat day. I still want to win and I’ll fight for the girls but it’s differentthan the regular season. It’s more cut back. I try to make it interesting andfun for them.”On the other hand, with only two returning seniors, St. Charles Catholiccoach Teri Hruska does not have the option of mixing experience with youth. Unlike past years in which she let former players coach the Metroteam, Hruska has taken over this year to provide more instruction.

“We’re using it to get experience for the kids,” Hruska said. “I lookingforward to getting these kids a lot of playing time. It’s a chance to makethem prepared for the softball season so they are not shell-shocked when the regular season begins.”The two teams met Wednesday afternoon at Riverside with the Lady Rebels taking a 7-0 victory behind the pitching of Summer Delaneuville.

Delaneuville held the Lady Comets to one hit while striking out 13 in the complete game victory.

Riverside got on the board in the first inning. Delaneuville led off with asingle over second against Lady Comet starter Brittany Vicknair and stole second. With one out, Kelly Louque drove a double to left, platingDelaneuville for a 1-0 lead. Vanessa Taromina followed with a triple toleft, scoring Louque. Taromina would score on a ground out to short byCassie St. Amant to give the Lady Rebels a 3-0 lead.Riverside added two more in the third. Tiffany Teague led off with a walk,stole second and went to third on a wild pitch. Delaneuville singled tocenter but Teague was thrown out at the plate for the first out. HeidiRichard brought Delaneuville home with a single to center and scored on Louque’s single to short, making it 5-0.

Mindy Richard opened the fifth with a single to left, went to second on a sacrifice by Katie Lehrmann and scored on Teague’s single to center. Aninning later, Heidi Richard reached on a lead-off error and scored an out later on Taromina’s double to left for a 7-0 lead.

Amanda Helm broke up Delaneuville’s no-hitter with two outs in the sixth, singling into the hole at short. The only other baserunners Delaneuvilleallowed were walks to Heather Heltz in the first, to Amanda Rebaldo in the fourth and to Katie Monica in the sixth.

Return To Sports Stories

Copyright © #Thisyear# Wick Communications, Inc.Best viewed with 4.0 or higher