Christine Laloge, a 10-year-old Batesville resident, died at Margaret Mary Community Hospital Friday, Aug. 8, after collapsing at Bill Gillespie Soccer Park.

The under 12 league had just finished practicing, said Jeff Nolting, Batesville Soccer Club co-president, who wasn’t there, but received information from parents and coaches who were. “Christine was coming off the field and collapsed .... Before this, she didn’t complain .... Her father noticed it and realized something was wrong.”

Nolting said several adults “got the team away from there .... and called 911.”

A Batesville dispatcher toned Batesville EMS 10 at 6:32 p.m., said Fire Chief Todd Schutte. He and emergency medical technician Brian Hardebeck were at Liberty Park setting up for the Fire-Rescue picnic and rushed to the rescue unit at the station, leaving a minute later. They arrived at the soccer field at 6:35 p.m. and transported Laloge to the hospital at 6:40 p.m.

“Christine was non-responsive upon arrival (at the emergency room), and CPR was in progress,” reported communications specialist Becky Walter after checking with the ER staff and medical records.

Before the soccer playground ribbon cutting and annual soccer coaches’ cookout Saturday morning, the Rev. David Johnston spoke of the St. Louis School student’s untimely death. “There are just some things we cannot understand .... (We need to) support each other.”

Batesville Primary School counselor Thomas Barnett also was there to advise coaches about the importance of listening to the players and helping them grieve.

Johnston and Barnett were on hand again Aug. 11 to “talk directly to the team and coaches.”

The board is planning “a short memorial before our games start Saturday (Aug. 16) .... We will release a single balloon in her honor.

“I’m saddened .... and feel terrible that this has happened,” observed Nolting. “There has been a “ground swell of parents who want to do something .... out of genuine concern for the family.”

SLS principal Chad Moeller was out of town with his family Friday night when he learned of the tragedy. He immediately began notifying teachers “so they wouldn’t hear it from somebody else.”

Staff members offered to help phone every fifth-grade classmate of Laloge’s Saturday and Sunday with the news and to offer grief counseling at the school Monday and Tuesday, Aug. 11-12, from 3 to 5 p.m.

Moeller said he is grateful to counselors who have volunteered from Batesville and Sunman-Dearborn public schools and the private St. Michael’s School, Brookville.

The principal reported, “I’ve been hearing from parents how difficult this is for them.” He said individuals, families and other groups may come to talk with persons skilled at aiding children as well as adults.

Instead of getting to work Monday morning, staff members attended Mass together, then took part in a prayer session for the young girl.

With her funeral on Wednesday, the first student day at SLS has been postponed until Thursday, Aug. 14. “Out of respect to Christine and her family, we just felt it was the right thing to do,” Moeller explained. Staffers are phoning out-of-town students to tell them of the delay.

“People have been outstanding” in helping deal with the student’s loss. “Parents have agreed to help us” by organizing continual adoration in St. Louis Catholic Church’s adoration chapel, he said. “Kids can go in and write something about Christine.”

Before the funeral, fifth-graders who want to can meet at the school and sit together. During the Mass, they will bring white carnations to the casket and place notes written to her in a special casket drawer, according to the principal.

When asked what Christine Laloge was like, the principal reflected, “She seemed shy and maybe a little quiet. But she was the sweetest girl.”

Last spring the 10-year-old found two baby birds without a mother. “She got on the Internet and researched what to do. Christine got a heating pad to keep them warm and fed them whatever these concoctions are ... with a tweezers” and the birds lived.

Of how her death will affect the St. Louis School family, Moeller said, “This is going to be a tough, tough, emotional few days. Hopefully we’re doing everything we can to help them heal.”