St. Bede softball hopes to keep ‘a good thing going’ despite changes

Things will look a little different, but not too different for the St. Bede softball team entering the 2025 season.

Shawn Sons stepped down as the Bruins’ head coach but will stay on as an assistant, while assistant Rob Ruppert returns to the head coach role he held from 2017-21 when he led St. Bede to two sectional titles and a third-place finish in Class 1A in 2019.

“When he decided he was going to step away from the head coaching role, I said I’ll try it again this year and see how it goes,” Ruppert said. “We’ve got a good thing going and we have a lot of talent in the program and we didn’t want to let it go by the wayside.

“It’s going good. Nothing’s really changed from when we made the change last time. We have the same coaching staff and we’re all kind of on the same page.”

While Ruppert said the Bruins have a lot of talent in the program, they must replace a ton of talent lost to graduation.

The Bruins lost all-staters Ella Hermes, Bella Pinter and Reagan Stoudt, who were the core of St. Bede’s 2023 state championship team, which will change the team’s offensive outlook as the trio combined for 21 home runs, 92 RBIs and 82 runs.

“I think we’re going to have to manufacture some runs,” Ruppert said. “We have some speed, so we’re looking to put the ball in play and put some pressure on the other team to make plays. We will probably bunt a little more. We don’t have the big pop in the lineup like we did last year.”

Returners Lily Bosnich, who doubles as a state track medalist, Emma Slingsby and Lili McClain provide speed along with newcomer Lily Soliman.

Bosnich, Slingsby and McClain will hit toward the top of the lineup.

Ava Balestri is returning from injury and is expected to provide some pop in the middle of the order, while returners Jillian Pinter and Quinn McClain and newcomer Macy Strauch also are expected to be key hitters.

“We’ll put the ball in play and try to make good things happen,” Ruppert said.

The loss of Hermes, Bella Pinter and Stoudt also leaves a huge hole in the field as they made up the Bruins’ battery, while Hermes and Stoudt played key defensive positions when not pitching.

Hermes was 12-1 with a 1.30 ERA and 172 strikeouts last spring, while Stoudt was 9-5 with a 2.32 ERA and 115 strikeouts. Pinter was a multiyear starter at catcher.

Strauch and fellow newcomer Chipper Rossi will handle the bulk of the pitching duties, while Lili McClain takes over behind the plate. Macy Kelly may also see time behind the plate.

“They’re new to varsity,” Ruppert said about Strauch and Rossi. “They both throw the ball fairly well. Macy has a lot of pitches. Chipper throws the ball fairly hard. It’s going to take them a little while to adjust to the speed of the game and behind able to hit their spots and make quality pitches because when you get up to the varsity level and make a mistake, girls usually hit it.”

Defensively, Bosnich will play shortstop and could see time in the outfield, while Slingsby will anchor the outfield as the team’s center fielder.

Strauch will play third base when not pitching, Balestri will see time at first and third base, Jillian Pinter will play first base, Kelly returns at second base, and Quinn McClain and Bailey Engels will see time in the outfield. Ruppert said the Bruins also will bring up some younger players to fill out the roster.

“We’re not set in stone on anything right now other than maybe one or two positions,” Ruppert said.

Ruppert said the Bruins hope to contend for the Tri-County Conference title but said it will be tough with teams such as Seneca, Marquette and Dwight in the mix.

“It’s going to be a work in progress,” Ruppert said. “We tell the girls, we want to win the last seven games [to win a state title], so we’re not going to put a lot of pressure on ourselves to win the conference. I think we need to concentrate on being better day in and day out.”