St. Bede slowly pulls away from WFC to move to 6-1 on season

RURAL STREATOR – After the first three innings of Tuesday’s Tri-County Conference visit by St. Bede to the Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell Warriors, it seemed it might take 20 runs to win what was projecting to be a back-and-forth softball shootout.

The game settled down after a hectic start, however, until the visiting Bruins rang up a handful of insurance runs late to record a comfortable but competitive 11-5 victory to open a TCC series scheduled to conclude Thursday at the Academy.

St. Bede improves to 6-1 on the spring, 5-0 in the Tri-County.

“Things are going really well so far,” said St. Bede designated player Macy Strauch, who led the Bruins’ attack from the No. 7 spot in the order by going 4 for 4 with a pair of RBIs. “We just have to play our game and treat every team the same, go for that win.”

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St. Bede pitcher Chipper Rossi lets go of a pitch to Woodland/Flanagan-Cornell on Tuesday, April 8, 2025 at Woodland High School. (Scott Anderson)

WFC slips to 1-5, 0-4, although first-year head coach Sydnee Plesko is encouraged, she said, by the progress she’s seen in her team in the season’s opening weeks.

“Overall, we have improved a lot since our first game,” Plesko said. “We’re starting to find our confidence.”

The double-barreled scoring started right away when St. Bede put up a run in the top of the first and WFC responded with two in the bottom half. The visitors scored three in the second (Jill Pinter and Lily Bisnich with RBIs) to craft a 4-2 advantage, but WFC tied it 4-4 with a pair of runs (Jaylei Leininger and Emma Palaschak back-to-back RBI hits).

What turned out to be the winning runs – although no one could have expected it at the time with the way runners for both teams were flying around the bases – were scored by St. Bede in the top of the third. Maci Kelly drew a walk and scored on the first of two Strauch RBI singles, and Sadie Leffelman added a seeing-eye, run-scoring single off the shortstop’s glove for the Bruins’ sixth run.

It proved to be enough, as SBA starting pitcher Chipper Rossi (win, 5 IP, 1 ER, 5 H, 3 BB, 7 K) and reliever Strauch (2 IP, 0 R, 0 H, 1 BB, 1 K) limited the Warriors to one run the rest of the way.

“We battled all day. We hadn’t played in a week, and it showed,” Bruins coach Rob Ruppert said.

“But you know what? Our girls persevered, and Chipper threw well enough to keep us in the game until we were able to score some [insurance] runs. Sometimes, that’s the way you’ve got to win ballgames. You grind ‘em out.

“I think after about the third or fourth inning, we started playing a little better, had a little better approach at the plate.”

In addition to Strauch’s 4-for-4, two-RBI day, St. Bede received two hits and two RBIs from Pinter, one hit with two RBIs by Morgan Mercer and a hit and an RBI apiece off the bats of Leffelman and Bosnich. Ava Balestri added a run-scoring groundout.

WFC had four hits in the first two innings, but only one afterward. Leininger provided two of the ballclub’s five hits – a single in the first and double in the second – with an RBI. Palaschak added her RBI single, and Olivia Chismarick notched a hit, two stolen bases and two runs scored in support of freshman left-handed pitcher Brooklyn Delheimer (7 IP, 8 ER, 10 H, 10 BB, 4 K), who joined the team after the season started and put in a gritty effort.

“Having her has been a huge addition,” Plesko said, “and we’re moving people around, trying to find what fits best on our defense. Because as long as we can get the ball over the plate, our defense and our bats are coming together.

“And they’re having fun, which is awesome to see.”