by RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

St. Charles extended its season-opening winning streak to four last weekend with a sweep of a double header at Northshore in two five-inning games last Saturday.

But the Comets bid to make it five in a row fell short on Tuesday, as host East Ascension toppled the Comets 5-4.

Much like it did in its season opening win at Covington, the Lady Comets showed another team from that region that it knows how to put together a late-inning comeback. After Northshore (4-2) took a 2-0 lead in the third inning, each team went scoreless until the top of the fifth inning.

There, after Elizabeth Jackson was hit by a pitch to load the bases, Jennifer Heltz singled in the Comets’ first run of the game to make it 2-1.

Courtney Western followed with a grounder to second that scored the game-tying run. Jesse Braud gave St. Charles its first lead with an infield single on a grounder to short.

Lauren Coniglio’s double would bring in two runs to make it 5-2. Katie Reine added the final score to bring it to 6-2.

Courtney Western took the win and improved to 2-0 this season. She pitched all five innings, allowing three hits and striking out four Panthers. Northshore’s two runs were unearned.

“Even more important than the wins, I felt like we played better defensively than we had been. That’s a big focus for us,” said St. Charles Coach Ty Monica. “We didn’t play well for the first three innings, but we got it done in the fifth, which really set the tone for the rest of the day.”

The Comets would need no comeback in the second game. Ashley Trosclair (2-0) pitched a four-hit shutout as St. Charles took a 5-0 win over the Panthers.

“I challenged them after the first game. You don’t see a lot of dominating performances in the second game of a doubleheader because the team that wins the first game relaxes,” said Monica. “It’s reassuring to see the team keep their focus. I’m proud of them for that.”

St. Charles scored its first runs in the third inning, where it took a 2-0 lead. Brooke Becker and Trosclair each knocked in runs.

The Comets scored three in the fifth to slam the door, including RBIs by Becker and Megan Musacchia.

Coniglio finished the game with three hits.  Reine and Musacchia each had two.

Trosclair struck out four batters.

East Ascension (3-0) remained undefeated and snapped the SCC winning streak in the process by scoring two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to take a 5-4 lead into the seventh, where it held.

St. Charles had scored four runs in the top of the sixth after falling behind 3-0. It included an RBI single by Western and a 3-run double off the outfield wall by Becker.

“We sleepwalked through the first five innings,” Monica said. “We didn’t play well at all.”

Western (2-1) took her first loss of the season. She gave up four earned runs in five innings, along with six hits. She struck out five.