By RYAN ARENA

L’Observateur

HOUMA – Riverside suffered only it’s second loss of the season on Friday to John Curtis, 5-0. But Riverside did not have to wait long for another test — the Rebels passed this one with flying colors.

For the third time this season, Riverside toppled defending Class 4A champion Vandebilt Catholic, this time winning 12-5 on the Terriers’ home field.

“I’m just glad to get back on track,” said Riverside coach Kristy Hebert. “We dropped one, but we took advantage of the opportunity to come right back and play a quality team like Vandebilt. And we were able to get things right with our bats and our defense again.”

Destin Vicknair earned the complete game win for Riverside (25-2), allowing four hits and striking out two. Vicknair also had a big day at the plate, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs and a pair of doubles.

Katie Bailey also swung a big bat, collecting four hits in five at bats with two doubled and four RBIs. Kelsi Roussel was 2 for 5 with four RBIs.

“One through nine, our lineup did a good job,” said Hebert.

Much like in their first meeting this season, the Rebels opened up a big lead early. Riverside led just 1-0 after an inning, but pushed that lead to 4-0 after three and 7-0 by the middle of the fourth inning.

Vandebilt hit back though, and a five run fourth frame turned it into a game again at 7-5.

But the Terriers wouldn’t score again, and Riverside emphatically slammed the door. The Rebels added a run in the fifth, then four more in the seventh to seal a season sweep of Vandebilt, the fourth ranked team in Class 4A power points.

“You schedule these games for a reason. The big positive is that they allow you to see that type of pitching before the playoffs start. You won’t see anything that you haven’t seen before or recently.”

In the Curtis game, the Patriots scored two runs in each of the second and sixth innings and one more in the seventh to capture the win.

Hebert said her team came out flat Friday for the first time in awhile.

“We weren’t ready to play,” said Hebert. “We didn’t show up, plain and simple, and Curtis took advantage.

“For me, I look at it as a wakeup call. It told us that we need to wake up and get back to work, get back to doing the things we were doing before to win games.”

Curtis snapped a 20-game win streak for Riverside.

The game was a matchup of the top two ranked teams in power points within Class 2A. The Rebels split with the Patriots this season and are still ranked first in power points with a score of 17.03 to Curtis’ 15.48.

Riverside had already clinched at least a share of the District 9-2A title entering the Curtis game, and needed a win against Haynes Tuesday (after press time) to clinch the crown outright.