Softball: Rockridge, Kendra Lewis outduel St. Bede, Ella Hermes

PERU - The way Shawn Sons looks at it, his St. Bede softball team came away with a win no matter what the scoreboard showed Tuesday at Tower Field on the campus of St. Bede Academy.

The Bruins battled the No. 1 ranked team in the state, Rockridge (15-0), to a 3-0 defeat, and were just a key hit or two away from playing them even.

“When I talk to the girls, I’m going to let them know, ‘You played one of the best in the state toe to toe,” said Sons, his team now 8-2 with their second straight defeat. “Look at the runs they’re putting up against everybody else. Ten runs and 15 runs. I don’t want to hang my hat on that because we didn’t score any runs, but it’s still a good game.

“If you want to be the best, you’ve got to beat the best and they are certainly a good team.”

Rockridge coach John Nelson, who has guided the Rockets to two state championships in the past three postseasons held and two third-place finishes since 2016, also welcomed the challenge of meeting St. Bede in a Three Rivers Conference crossover.

“We got a lot of respect for this program and coaching staff. We didn’t get to play them last year or the year before, so we haven’t seen them for a little bit, but they’ve certainly developed a fantastic program and I think they’re going to go really far,” Nelson said.

“Today was just a good all around day for us because we have a saying, you win or you learn. Today we were fortunate to win and learn, and I think we’re a better team because of being able to play St. Bede.”

A pair of sophomore aces, St. Bede’s Ella Hermes and Rockridge’s Kendra Lewis, locked into a pitcher’s duel.

Hermes scattered four hits while striking out 10 with just one earned run allowed.

Lewis, who pitched the Rockets to an undefeated Class 2A state championship run while sporting a miniscule 0.57 ERA, pitched a two-hit shutout, striking out 10 while walking one and hitting two batters.

The game-breaker for the Rockets came with two outs in the top of the third.

Lewis hit a soft liner off the glove of St. Bede shortstop Madelyn Torrance, reaching on an error.

Hermes retired Rockridge shortstop Lexi Hines on a groundout to third for the second out, but left fielder Kori Needham cracked a long fly that center fielder Addie Bontz ran out of room for a two-run homer to put the Rockets ahead 3-0.

Hermes retired the next seven batters she faced before pitching out of two-on, one-out jam after surrendering a walk and having another Rocket reach on a throwing error.

“We had a couple errors behind her. We’re going to have to clean that up, but she was dynamite,” Sons said of Hermes. “I’ve got no problem with her location and her velocity looked really good. I see good things down the road.”

Rockridge got on the board in the top of the first even though Hermes struck out three in the inning.

Lewis reached on a one-out swinging bunt and stole second. Hermes threw a high heater past Rockridge clean-up hitter Lexi Hines for the second out, but Needham slapped a hit through the hole. When left fielder Grace Maschmann hesitated throwing home, Lewis was able to sneak in under the tag by catcher Bella Pinter to put the Rockets up 1-0.

That was the only run Lewis needed. She surrendered a leadoff single to Ryann Stoudt in the second inning, but she was thrown out at home by Rockridge third baseman Taylor Sedam on a grounder hit by her sister, Reagan Stoudt.

Lewis managed to pitch around a ruling that Hines, the Rockridge shortstop, was off the bag while trying to turn a double play on a ball hit to first that left two on with just one out in the fourth.

The Rockets’ ace also wiggled out of a two-out jam in the fifth after Maschmann was hit by pitch and Bontz reached on a bunt single when she caught her counterpart, Hermes, looking for strike three to end the inning.

Nelson said Lewis (9-0) is still finding her way in the circle.

“She’s not in mid-season form yet. She’s got things she knows she’s working on, but she’s a competitor,” he said. “Even when she’s got her ‘B’ game, she knows how to go out there and get outs. That’s kind of where she was today. She was struggling with a few pitches and between her and my coach, (Liz) Furlong, they hashed it out and saw what they needed to work on.”