MICHAEL KIRAL

PHOTO: ST. CHARLES CATHOLIC’S SARAH WEBER puts the tag on Covington’s Britni Adiox to complete a double play in the fourth inning Tuesday afternoon. (Staff Photo by Michael Kiral) LAPLACE – Pinch-runner Ashley Loupe scored on a wild pitch on a third strike to Heather Heltz, capping a come-from-behind 9-8 nine-inning victory by St. Charles Catholic over Covington Tuesday afternoon at Lady Comet Diamond. St. Charles Catholic improved to 2-2 on the season while Covington fell to 0-1. Loupe’s run capped a wild game that saw the teams combine for 11 runs in extra innings, four comebacks by St. Charles Catholic and eight stolen bases by the Lady Comets. Every player who batted in the game reached base at least once. With Covington holding an 8-7 lead going into the bottom of the ninth, Jenny Traina was on second under the tie-breaking rules. After Traina went to third on a ground out by Katie Arcuri, Sarah Weber brought her in by lining a single to center. Loupe came in to run for Weber and stole second. Crissy Michel sent her to third with a single to left field and went to second on the throw in. Heltz then struck out on a pitch that skipped to the backstop with Loupe sliding in ahead of Laurie Heck’s throw to Christy Jenkins. Heltz picked up the win while Jenkins took the loss. Covington had taken the lead in the top of the inning on a similar play. Laurie Mathies started the inning at second, went to third on a wild pitch and scored on a wild pitch as Jenkins struck out one out later. McCall McDaniel followed with a single to center but Britni Adiox hit into a double play to second to end the inning. Covington broke through with four runs in the top of the eighth to take a 7-3 lead. Mathie started the inning at second, went to third as Lexie Mizell beat out a bunt and scored on Jenkins’ single to center. McDaniel followed with another single to left, plating Mizell. Adiox then hit a grounder to second with Jenkins beating Trista LaPorte’s throw home. Monica Tamporello brought in McDaniel with the fourth run of the inning with a single into short center field just in front of Arcuri diving in. St. Charles Catholic came right back with four runs in the bottom of the inning. Weber started at second and went to third on Michel’s single to center. After Michel stole second, Heltz scored Weber by lining a single to left. LaPorte followed with another single to left, making it 7-5. Amanda Helm then brought in Heltz with a grounder to short with LaPorte coming in on an errant throw to the plate to tie the game at 7. Covington took a 3-2 lead in the top of the seventh as Adiox led off with a walk, went to second on Jennifer Gunter’s single to left and scored on Heck’s two-out double to left-center. St. Charles Catholic sent the game into extra innings as Brittany Vicknair slapped a single to right, stole second, went to third on Ashley Reine’s grounder to second and scored on Traina’s fly ball to center. “We executed when we had to in the last couple of innings,” St. Charles Catholic coach Michelle Dearmitt said. “They scored more runs in the eighth than they did in the whole game. We got a little intimidated with the runner on second. But once we got adjusted, we did well at the plate and got the job done.” Covington scored first in the top of the second as McDaniel reached on an error to lead off the inning, went to second on Adiox’s sacrifice bunt, stole third and scored on Gunter’s two-out single to short right field off LaPorte’s glove. The Lady Lions made it 2-0 as Jenkins, who went 3-for-5 in the game, led off with a triple to the left field wall and scored on McDaniel’s fly ball to left. The Lady Comets got a run back in the bottom of the fifth as Helm led off by beating out a bunt along the third baseline and stole second. Helm then went to third as Vicknair grounded out to second and scored on Traina’s two-out single to center. LaPorte tied the game at 2 with a two-out home run over the left field fence in the bottom of the sixth. “I didn’t know I hit it out,” LaPorte said on hestitating after rounding second. “I saw my mom and dad behind the fence and they were yelling You hit out.’ I was very excited. I never expected to hit one over. “I saw the ball very well. I was disappointd in my at-bats before that and I knew I was very determined to hit the ball well that time.” LaPorte finished 2-for-4 with two runs batted in. Michel also had two hits for the Lady Comets. McDaniel and Gunter each had two hits for the Lady Lions. St. Charles Catholic is playing the Riverside Lady Rebel Classic this weekend and hosts Northshore Monday.