Softball: St. Bede blasts 5 homers to beat Midland 17-0

PERU – Growing up playing travel softball together, Ella Hermes, Bella Pinter and Reagan Stoudt hit back-to-back home runs regularly.

On Thursday, the St. Bede seniors combined for an even better feat.

They hit back-to-back-to-back homers, and the Bruins belted five total to cruise to a 17-0, four-inning victory over Midland in a Tri-County Conference game.

“We used to play on travel teams together and hit home runs after each other,” Hermes said. “We hit a lot of two in a row, but this is the first three in a row.

“It was nice to bring it into school ball.”

With one out in the second inning, Hermes launched a pitch over the fence in right-center field.

“It was nice to lead it off,” Hermes said.

Pinter then crushed a pitch over the fence in center field.

After the Timberwolves changed pitchers, Stoudt greeted the new pitcher by smacking the ball over the right-center field fence.

“That was so fun,” Pinter said. “Ella and Reagan are two of my best friends. I’m actually rooming with Ella in college. We’ve played together for so long. We used to do that all the time. To do it in school ball, especially this early in the season, was fun.”

St. Bede’s home run barrage began in the first inning when Maci Kelly sent a rocket over the center field fence that smacked off the front of a pickup truck.

Pinter ended the power surge when she blasted a grand slam in the fourth inning to end the game.

“It feels nice,” said Pinter, who thinks it was her first two-homer game at the varsity level. “I feel like I go every other year where I have a good offensive year then a not so good offensive year, so it’s nice that my senior year I’m already producing so well.”

The Bruins had 15 hits against Midland, including five home runs, three triples and a double.

“I talked with the girls postgame, it’s easy in a game like this to fall asleep and say, ‘We’re going to mail it in,’” St. Bede coach Shawn Sons said. “But I saw girls on the bases working on their leadoff skills and working on their baserunning skills. In the batter’s box, they were making adjustments at the plate pitch by pitch. I don’t care if someone is throwing 55 or 65 miles per hour, when you can make an adjustment to different pitchers like that and hit the ball as hard as these girls did tonight, that says something about their abilities. I was really pleased with that.”

St. Bede’s offense, which scored four runs in the first inning, four in the second, five in the third and four in the fourth, was more than enough for Hermes in the circle.

After allowing a double to Midland leadoff hitter Sophia Coccia, Hermes retired nine consecutive batters, including six strikeouts in a row in the second and third innings, and did not allow another hit.

She finished with 11 strikeouts and one walk. The only batter not retired via strikeout was a flyout to left field in the first inning.

“I thought Ella pitched a fantastic game,” Sons said. “You can tell with Ella when she gets in a rhythm and has her curveball working, her spins down and is hitting her locations, she’s pretty untouchable. So I was very pleased with how she worked today.”

The Bruins are 6-0 overall and 3-0 in the conference. St. Bede is averaging nine runs per game, has outscored its opponents 54-10 and has won five of seven games by eight or more runs.

“We’ve played a lot of different competition,” Sons said. “We’ve had some close games [3-2 over Tri-Valley and 9-7 over Newark], which are good. We’re going to be in close games down the stretch run. We’ve seen a lot of different pitches, a lot of different speeds, so I’m very happy with our start to the season.

“I told the girls the further on we go, everybody is going to be getting better. We have a target on our back. Everybody wants to beat last year’s state champs. They’re stepping up to the plate and rising to the occasion. They’re really doing a good job.”