By RYAN ARENA
L’Observateur

LAPLACE – The American Legion season came to an end for St. Charles Catholic-based Townsend Homes  at Kirsch-Rooney Stadium Sunday morning, as the team fell to Jesuit-based Retif Oil in a Southeast Regional elimination game, 11-1.
The truly decisive blow came in the fourth inning. After Retif loaded the bases with no outs, it scored eight runs in the frame to turn a 2-1 lead into a 10-1 advantage. It tacked on one more run in the eighth to clinch the win by the 10-run rule in eight innings.
Townsend Homes lost a tough 4-3 decision on Saturday to the John Curtis-based River Ridge Patriots.
Townsend Homes coach Wayne Stein said the tournament proved to be a tough note to end the summer on. But he also credited his players for putting forth a strong effort for the summer season as a whole, digging their way out of a 3-6 start to qualify for the Southeast Regional. Townsend failed to qualify last season.
“We gave them extra outs, and against that team, that won’t work out at all,” said Stein. “But honestly, the kids have come out and really competed all summer, and I’m proud of them and what we were able to do.
“We kind of use the summer as a starting point for next year’s team. It’s not a final exam … they’ll have a chance to mature, a chance to grow, a chance to continue to compete for a spot. But we had guys step up, especially our seniors. We played a lot of games against the Catholic League, which I like. It’s strong competition, and it only makes you better.”
Retif (23-9) led 1-0 in the bottom of the first inning before Townsend (8-10-1) tied the game in Eian Mitchell’s RBI single. That scored Kameron Keller, who singled to lead off.
Retif took a 2-1 advantage in the third inning on Spencer Miller’s RBI single to left, scoring Dylan Weston.
But things began to unravel for Townsend Homes in the fourth inning, after Nathan Zimmer reached on an error to lead off the inning – it was Townsend’s third error of the game, a high number for what had been a very sure-handed defensive team all summer. Mitch Alexander and Blake Baker reached on back-to-back bunt singles.
That left Retif a chance to break things open, and that’s what it did. Weston delivered an RBI single, then Trent Forshag drew a walk to force home a run. Spencer Miller was hit by a pitch, making it 5-1, and Stephen Sigle hit a sacrifice fly to make it 6-1. Ben Hess reached on an infield hit, then Brandon Sequeria singled home another run to make it 7-1. Walks by Zimmer and Alexander forced in runs, and Blake Baker grounded out to score the inning’s eighth and final run.
“In the past, we’ve left too many runners on,” said Baker. “We’ve done drills to get back on track in that area, and today it really paid off. We hit to the spots we knew we had to so we could get guys home.”
Retif pitcher Brett Leonhard (6-2) went seven innings to earn the win, allowing two hits and walking five. He struck out seven. Townsend did not record a hit after the first inning.
“Brett did a really nice job of pounding the strike zone,” said Retif coach Joey Latino. “He settled down after the first inning. We had an emotional loss (Saturday) and the team felt that. It was important to bounce back.”
PATRIOTS 4, TOWNSEND HOMES 3 – The Patriots earned a tough win Saturday that came down to the final out, as Evan Hileman uncorked a throw to home from leftfield that nailed down the game’s potential tying run at the plate.
Eian Mitchell singled on with two men on after Townsend scored two ninth inning runs to cut a 4-1 lead to 4-3 before Hileman’s big defensive play. Hileman also struck out 11 en route to earning the win on the mound, outdueling Townsend’s Mason Bordelon.
The game did show some of the considerable progress Townsend Homes has made this summer, as the regular season meeting between the teams resulted in an 8-1 Patriots win.
The improvement was especially encouraging as Curtis and St. Charles will once again be district opponents next season, with Curtis’ move up to Class 3A.
“That was really the important one,” said Stein. “Our team and theirs are the same rosters that’ll be playing prep next season. If we hope to make a run at a district championship, we know we’ve got to go through those guys.”