Alicia Zeringue throws out winning run at plate to end game 3-2 to advance

ByJOHNNY PEPPO

Sports Editor

HAMMOND – St. Charles softball squad came through in the clutch last Friday in a run-for-run duel between the Lady Comets and the St. Thomas Aquinas Lady Falcons. And it was quite the nail-biter.

With Mary Clement on the mound, SCC never once trailed and seemed to have the game under control throughout. Going into the bottom of the seventh, St. Charles led 3-1. But STA opened their last-chance inning with a double to centerfield. Clement managed to get two strikeouts in a row followed by a full-count walk, but allowed a run after a hit right back at her didn’t make it to first in time. That sequence set up the game ending play when a sharp hit to leftfield was gunned all the way back in to sophomore catcher Lauren Coniglio in time to catch the runner and record the final out.

Clutch play was the norm in this one though as the Lady Comets got to work right off the bat. Lady Comets took the lead in the top of the first after walking on a full count. Coniglio got the RBI on a shallow floater to centerfield that got her all the way to third base. But Coniglio got stranded and St. Charles went to defense with a 1-0 lead.

That didn’t last very long though.

Clement got through the bottom of the half after allowing a base-runner to make it into scoring range and home on a shallow blooper to center. She worked her way out of the inning with two consecutive strikeouts to take it into the top of the second. Both teams put three up and three down from the batters box in the second inning, and would not allow another run until the fifth where Gina Monica and Addie Reine both recorded RBIs to take a 3-1 lead.

St. Thomas Aquinas came out determined not to let the game slip away and evened the score with their next at-bat, but couldn’t take advantage of a walk and a hit in the inning giving them just one more chance to score. They kept it close enough in the top of the seventh by walking one but stranding a runner at second base.

Defense was the name of the game as Clement gave up five hits and the Lady Comets hard shots were being snagged by the STA in-fielders. But SCC got the runs when they counted most towards the end of the game and came through when they needed to for the 3-2 final in their favor.

Clement goes to 6-3 on the season as a pitcher. Reine led her team from the batter’s box going 2-for-4. The Lady Comets go to 15-15 on the season and have the chance to play in the state finals for the second consecutive year after falling to Parkview in the 3A championship game last year.

The Lady Comets now advance to the quarterfinals in 2A softball, which is set to be played Friday in Sulphur against district 11-2A champion Fisher. The semi-finals and state championship are scheduled for Saturday.