Softball: Ella Hermes, patient offense lead St. Bede past Putnam County

PERU – The St. Bede Bruins hosted the Panthers of Putnam County on Saturday morning at the Academy, where the Bruins used a dominating pitching performance from Ella Hermes and a hard-hitting attack to secure a 10-0 victory.

“I had command of my screwball and curve and was able to mix in some rise balls and changeups today,” said Hermes, who fired 12 strikeouts in six innings. “It’s nice to pitch when you know your offense is so strong and that my teammates have my back defensively.”

Bruins coach Shawn Sons felt Hermes was on her game.

“Hermes pitched real well today as she has all year, and we were able to string together some hits and put some runs on the board,” Sons said. “I thought our defense played well today, and we were able to relax in the box and get some quality at-bats.

“Early in the year, everyone is anxious and widens their zones. I was happy at the discipline we showed at the plate.”

After a scoreless first inning for Putnam County, Hermes led off with a walk. One batter later, Bella Pinter earned a walk of her own. Both came across to score on RBI singles by Reagan Stoudt and Lily Bosnich to give the Bruins a 2-0 lead after one inning.

In the second, Putnam County’s Kylee More led off with a single, but Hermes whiffed three batters to keep the Panthers off the scoreboard. The Bruins added a run in the second, as Hermes singled and scored on a single by Maddie Dalton to make the it 3-0 after two.

After a scoreless top half of the third, Stoudt hammered a 3-1 pitch over the left-center fence for a solo shot and a 4-0 Bruins lead. The Bruins would get another run on singles from Emma Slingsby and Bosnich and an RBI infield hit by Ava Balestri to build a 5-0 advantage heading into the fourth inning.

In the top of the fourth, Hermes was perfect, striking out all three batters she faced. Hermes kept her big day going in the bottom half with a double to right-center field fence, eventually scoring on another hit by Stoudt, who was 4 for 4 in the game, for a 6-0 lead.

Slingsby reached next on a single before Bosnich blasted a pitch over the right-field wall for a three-run homer to go up 9-0.

“It is nice to have a girl like Lily that can bunt for a single in one at-bat, then hit a three-run homer in the next,” Sons said.

In the top of the sixth, the Bruins defense kept the Panthers scoreless, and the game headed to bottom half with St. Bede needing a run to end the game.

The Bruins loaded the bases with one out on singles from Pinter, Stoudt and Bosnich before Tessa Dugosh drove a single to left to plate the 10th run.

Putnam County coach Angie Heiser was pleased with the effort, if not the result.

“I thought we played well defensively, which is something we have really worked on, but we couldn’t group together any hits and generate any offense today,” Heiser said. “We had some good at-bats, but we need to develop some leadership and find someone to get us that spark to get things going offensively.”