No one is busier than St. Bede senior Lily Bosnich in the spring.

On Thursday, her two sports worlds collided.

Bosnich went 1 for 3 with a home run, two RBIs, three runs scored and three stolen bases in the Bruins softball team’s 10-0 win over Marquette.

With no time for the St. Bede Superwoman to change clothes, Bosnich raced to the senior night track meet to run the 300 hurdles while wearing her softball uniform. She won by more than eight seconds with a time of 46.98. She scratched from the 100 hurdles, which was held earlier in the meet.

It was just all in a day’s work for the St. Bede standout.

“When I told Coach Rupp (softball coach Rob Ruppert ) that I had senior night the same night we played Marquette, he said right away that he understood and I should be at my senior night. I laughed and told him there’s no way I’m missing this game and that I would make it work,” Bosnich said.

“He laughed and said, ‘I know you will Bos, you’re never looking for something simple.’ I talked with Coach Makransky (track coach Marty) and he was all on board with waiting till my game was over to announce me, so it all worked out.”

Bosnich didn’t think she was actually going to run so she didn’t bring the bottoms of her track uniform, but wouldn’t have had time to change anyway.

“I had my track bag with me with my tank top in it and spikes, so I at least had my spikes,” she said. “I was just happy to have made it on time to be announced, but I was even happier that I was able to run one last race on the track where my hurdle career first started in grade school, even if it was in my softball uniform.”

Ruppert is never surprised what Bosnich can do.

”Lily is just a special athlete. Probably could play D1 softball somewhere. Just a typical day on the softball field – hitting a home run, stealing bases, making plays on defense," he said.

“She’s just an all-around, five-tool player ... speed, power, average, great arm and could probably play any position on the field. It has been so fun coaching her. Best thing about her, she’s a great person. Very humble.”

Streak buster

Bill Booker and the St. Bede Bruins felt like they let one get away Tuesday against Marquette in Ottawa.

On Thursday, the Bruins made amends, reversing the score to defeat their Tri-County rival 6-1, snapping the Crusaders’ win streak of 39 games dating back to April 28, 2025, when they lost also to the Bruins.

“We felt like we let one get away on Tuesday. That is why we were so proud of our players responding last night,” Booker said.

After that 2025 loss to St. Bede, the Crusaders had not lost since on their way to their second straight 1A state championship and winning their first 21 games this season.

Booker said the Bruins gave no thought to what kind of streak the Crusaders may have had going in. They just play to win.

“Streaks and number of wins are for the fans,” he said. “We respect all opponents and try to put the best product on the field. We’ve been battling the injury bug all season, and we try to have the next man up/team mentality, and so far we’ve stayed competitive in our conference race.

“There’s a long way to go for conference and tourney time.”

Power bats

Thursday’s homer was Bosnich’s seventh round-tripper of the season. She is batting .455 with 23 RBIs and 30 runs scored while stealing 10 bases in 10 attempts.

She is one of several power bats in Bureau County lineups this spring.

Princeton junior slugger Avah Oertel has belted 10 home runs, batting .605 while matching her own single-season RBI record of 43 and setting a new season doubles record with 17. She is now the Tigresses’ all-time leader for home runs (28), RBIs (121) and doubles (33).

Teammate Keely Lawson has smacked eight home runs with 27 RBIs, batting .438.

Baseball leaderboard

There are five different offensive leaders atop the BCR Baseball Leaderboard as of April 29, with St. Bede’s Maks Baker leading the way with four home runs and 22 RBIs. He’s second in batting average only to teammate Gus Burr (.475) with a .435 clip.

Other offensive leaders are Hall’s Luke Bryant for runs scored (24) and Greyson Bickett for stolen bases (29) and St. Bede’s Ranbir Saini for doubles (8) and Burr for triples (2).

On the mound, Bureau Valley’s Logan Philhower (1.24) and Dylan Howlett (1.86) head up area pitchers for ERA, while St. Bede’s Gino Ferrari and Geno Dinges and Hall’s Brady Bosi have four wins each. Saini has the most strikeouts with 43.