After striking out looking in her first at bat, St. Bede senior Ava Balestri knew what to expect her second time at the plate in the third inning.

“I knew that changeup was coming, especially after my first at bat,” Balestri said. “I picked up on her sequencing - high and inside then she was going to go slow and low.”

Balestri got what she expected and launched the pitch over the center field fence for a three-run home run.

Balestri’s blast helped spark the St. Bede softball team as it pulled away for a 12-0, five-inning Tri-County Conference victory over Dwight in the regular season finale for both teams Friday in Peru.

“The last time we played them, we struggled our first time through the lineup and we knew that might be the case today,” Balestri said. “We had to go in with a positive mentality. We did have a slow start with our bats, then the third inning we kind of lit it up.

“I’m really proud of everyone for how we played. If everybody didn’t have a positive attitude through this game, it would not have ended up like this.”

The Bruins pushed two runs across in the first inning with the help of two Dwight errors, then were held scoreless in the second inning before St. Bede got the bats going in the third inning the second time through the lineup against Dwight pitcher Madi Ely.

“We made adjustments at the plate,” St. Bede coach Rob Ruppert said. “She had us off balance early with that changeup. She had a really nice changeup, but we made adjustments and hit the ball. That’s what we do.”

Emma Slingsby led off the bottom of third inning with a slap single to the left side and Hannah Heiberger followed with a hard single to right field to set up Balestri’s homer.

Lili McClain brought in the fourth run of the inning with a bunt.

“Emma Slings got on base and I think that’s what really started it,” Balestri said. “I told Emma, she opened the gate for that. I couldn’t have done it if she didn’t get that hit.”

The Bruins continued to hit well in the fourth, putting up six runs on five hits, including RBI triples by Balestri and Ella Burke, a run-scoring double by Macy Strauch and an RBI single by Heiberger.

While the St. Bede offense took time to get going, Strauch was dominant throughout in the circle.

She allowed two hits and one walk while striking out 14 batters. She struck out four batters in the second inning and three in each the fourth and fifth.

“I was hitting my spots pretty well and so I felt like everything was really working,” said Strauch, who eclipsed 100 strikeouts for the season. “After the first time through the lineup, I knew more of their weaknesses and was just putting it where they missed the first time, just using that to our advantage.”

The Bruins (28-4) enter the postseason on a 13-game winning streak. St. Bede is the No. 1 seed in its sub-sectional and opens the Class 2A Prairie Central Regional on Tuesday against the winner of Monday’s game between No. 9 El Paso-Gridley and No. 8 Paxton-Buckley-Loda.

“We’ve been playing well the last few weeks,” Strauch said. “I feel like we have the potential to go far if we keep playing as a team like we’ve been doing lately.

“We have to keep our offense how it’s been. We’ve been doing pretty good with our bats. And then just stay strong with our defense. We can never get too comfortable. We have to keep getting better as the days go on.”

McKenna Woodcock had two hits, including a double, for Dwight (7-18), which had snapped a 12-game losing streak on Tuesday. The Trojans, a No. 5 seed, open the Class 1A Dwight Regional on Wednesday against No. 3 Gardner-South Wilmington.

“We got in our heads,” Dwight coach Megan Borgra said about Friday’s game. “We’ve seen it in almost every single game that we lost. We get that one inning where we get error after error and we just can’t pull ourselves out. It doesn’t help that we’re down two or our best players due to injuries and we have to start five freshmen.

“I’m nervous for the playoffs because we’re tight on numbers. We have nine who can play, so we’re going to be stretched to our limit.”

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St. Bede's Ava Balestri is greeted by teammates at home plate after hitting a home run against Dwight on Friday, May 15, 2026 at St. Bede Academy. (Scott Anderson)