‘Killer Bees’ Ava Balestri and Lily Bosnich power St. Bede to sectional finals

CHILLICOTHE – Ava Balestri and Lily Bosnich have a connection when it comes to hitting home runs together.

They did it again Tuesday.

Balestri blasted a solo shot in the top of the second inning, and Bosnich followed with a two-run homer in the fifth inning to power St. Bede to a 3-2 win over Sherrard in the semifinals of the Class 2A Chillicothe Sectional.

“Me and her, we always have the connection where we always hit home runs back to back. When she hit hers, I was feeling good, everyone was feeling good,” Bosnich said.

“We play travel ball together and went to preschool together, so we have a history together.”

“I love when she does that,” Balestri said. “It takes me back to travel ball because for some reason, I hit a home run and she hits one after me, or she hits a home run I hit a home run after her.”

St. Bede coach Rob Ruppert called them the “Killer Bees.”

The third-seeded Bruins (16-12) will meet No. 2 Brimfield (33-3) in Friday’s sectional championship at 5 p.m. at IVC. The Indians outlasted Canton 2-0 in eight innings in Tuesday’s nightcap.

St. Bede makes it fifth sectional finals appearance since 2018 Friday night, seeking its second sectional championship in three years and sixth in school history.

“This is huge for us. We’re all believing in each other and I feel like we got a great thing going and I’m so proud of everyone,” Balestri said.

The Tigers (21-10) struck first with a run in the bottom of the first. Makenzy Moran drew a leadoff walk, Savannah Hauger reached safely when Balestri threw high to first, and Emily Dormire followed with a two-out, RBI single to center.

Balestri erased that deficit with one swing of the bat to lead off the second inning, parking a delivery by Sherrard’s Hauger for a deep shot to right-center to tie the game at 1.

“It felt good, especially coming off the error. I had to focus on my at-bat. You can only control what you can control,” Balestri said.

Three innings later Bosnich joined Balestri in the home run party.

She followed a leadoff infield hit by Jill Pinter and sacrifice bunt by Leah Griggs with a Bosnich bomb to deep right-center to give the Bruins their first lead at 3-1.

St. Bede pitcher Macy Strauch wriggled out of a two-out, bases-loaded jam in the fifth but got touched for a run in the sixth. Anderson led off with a hit and stole second, scoring on an RBI single up the middle by Kaylee Faccio.

The Tigers threatened again in the bottom of the seventh when Makensie Westfall bunted in front of the plate and reached second on a two-base throwing error.

Strauch took a hard smash by her Sherrard counterpart, Hauger, off her left thigh and got the out at first. She recorded the last out on a groundout to second to send the Bruins back to the sectional finals.

“We made plays in the field when we had to. Macy really battled on the mound all game and held them off,” Ruppert said. “They have some really good hitters in that lineup, and we held them pretty much in check. We got out of that one inning, they had the bases loaded. That’s kind of a demoralizing thing when you have the bases loaded and can’t score a run.”

Strauch scattered eight hits and two walks with three strikeouts for the win.

Hauger allowed six hits with a walk while fanning 10 St. Bede batters.

Lily McClain led St. Bede with a two-hit day at the plate.

Dormire went 3 for 3 for Sherrard.

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(44) Macy Strauch of St. Bede pitches on Tuesday, May 27, 2025 at Illinois Valley Central High School in Chillicothe. (MaKade Rios for Shaw Med)