LADY PIRATES SINK IN 3A SECTIONAL 3-2

PERRYVILLE -- St. Pius High School of Festus decided to switch its girls softball program from the spring to the fall this year.

Wise move.

The Lady Lancers, competing in postseason play for the first time -- softball playoffs are held only in the fall -- defeated Perryville 3-2 Thursday in a Class 3A Sectional game at Perryville City Park.

St. Pius, now 19-5, advances on to Saturday's 3A quarterfinals in St. Louis.

Perryville, coming off its first-ever district championship, ends a highly successful season with a 19-10 record.

"This is our first chance to play in the postseason and I'm so proud of the girls," said St. Pius coach Barb Charboneau. "I knew we'd be decent, but they've kind of surprised me."

Thursday's game could have gone either way -- much like two regular-season meetings between the teams. Perryville claimed a 4-1 victory while St. Pius prevailed 4-2.

"I knew it would be like this," said Perryville coach Lynn O'Neil. "We're about as similar as similar can get. It really could have gone either way."

The teams headed to the seventh and final regulation inning deadlocked at 2-2.

St. Pius' Erin Dettmer, who went 3-for-3, led off with a single. She was sacrificed to second and went to third on a single by Sarah Waterkotte. Gina Lutz then lifted a sacrfice fly to left field that easily scored Dettmer.

Perryville had taken an early lead with two unearned runs in the bottom of the first. Two St. Pius errors aided the Lady Pirates, who got an RBI single from Andrea Regelsperger.

St. Pius took advantage of a key Perryville error in the second to score two runs, one of them earned. Dettmer had an RBI single.

After that, things settled into a pitcher's duel between Perryville's Carrie Preston and St. Pius' Missy Skubic. Neither hurler budged until the Lady Lancers broke through in the seventh.

Skubic hurled a five-hitter, striking out three and walking two.

Preston also gave up five hits. She walked two and did not record a strikeout.

"It was a well-pitched game by both teams," O'Neil said.

Said Charboneau, "It was kind of ugly early. We gave up some early runs. But I was pleased with our mental toughness. Our pitcher kind of got hung out to dry early but she really hung in there and did well."

O'Neil, while disappointed with the loss, had plenty of praise for his Lady Pirates.

"We had a really good season. It was very enjoyable," he said. "We had seven seniors, five of them starters, and they've been with me a long time. They're great kids.

"We lose some good players, but we've got a lot of good, young talent. We'll have four starters back, so we should be solid again."