By ROBERT L. LEE

RESERVE – Wednesday’s 10-inning, three-hour rivalry bout with the Riverside Academy Lady Rebels was an evening of answers for the St. Charles Catholic High School Lady Comets.

Each time the Lady Rebels threatened to score in the first three innings, the Lady Comets’ defense answered by keeping the runners stranded on base. When Riverside gained the 1-0 lead in the bottom of the fourth inning, the Lady Comets responded with one run in the fifth to tie the score and one run in the sixth for their own one-point lead. To balance the score once again and heighten the level of suspense in the Lady Rebels’ ball park, Riverside slipped in one run in the seventh to push the game into extra innings. Yet again, the Lady Comets answered.

They opened the 10th inning with two doubles, which opened the door for Trista Laporte to cross home for their 3-2 lead. Finally, St. Charles Catholic answered their earlier loss to the Lady Rebels by holding them back in the bottom of the tenth inning for the victory.

“We started sluggish but found our groove around the third inning,” said Lady Comets’ coach Michelle Dearmitt. “We realized it was a very good game for us, Riverside’s a rival and it was our last game before the playoffs. We just had to come back and hold them.”

The Lady Rebels’ Megan Warner pitched the full game, opening by sending the first three Lady Comets back to the dug out, with the third by way of a strike out. In the fourth inning a Warner hit moved the Lady Rebels’ runners to the corner bases. With two outs, Lauren Lambert bunted. Lisa Lambert then jumped from second base, but turned back slide back to second in just enough time to avoid being thrown out. The action around second moved the attention away from Mindy Richard, who ran home from third for the first Lady Rebel score. The Lady Comets scored the tying run with less drama and a handful of singles, which rotated their runners around the bases to home plate. In the following inning, Laporte hit a line-drive single to center to put her on base. She was then brought around to home for the Lady Comets’ 2-1 lead when Heather Heltz hit a double to the left center wall. The Lady Rebels tried their luck at singles and it paid off in the seventh inning when Toni Abadie made a bunt for a run to first, stole second base and ran home when Delaneuville opened the door with a double to left field for the third tie of the game. The Lady Rebels loaded the bases, but were stranded when the Lady Comets completed the last out of the inning.

“It was a whole team effort. We played the way we needed to play and it was a very good game for us,” she continued. “We played excellent defense and had only two errors early on.”

Dearmitt said the Lady Comets’ defense has been strong all year and that the team needs only to improve on its hitting as the team enters the playoffs Tuesday against Parkview Baptist High School.