BCR Sectional softball preview – Shaw Local

St. Bede Sectional

Pairings: Tuesday – Game 1: St. Bede (20-7) vs. Ridgewood-Cambridge/AlWood (27-6-1), 5 p.m. Wednesday – Game 2: Biggsville West Central (28-7) vs. Morrison (18-9), 5 p.m. Friday – Championship: Winners 1-2, 5 p.m.

Worthy of note: The Bruins won their second straight regional and look to take it a step farther than sectionals having lost in the finals last year to West Central. West Central looms as a hurdle again should both advance to the finals. St. Bede beat Ridgewood 4-3 in a nine-inning thriller in last year’s sectional semifinals. … St. Bede rolled to the Wethersfield Regional by defeating Midland (15-0) and host Annawan/Wethersfield (12-0) by a combined 27-0 tally behind ace pitcher Reagan Stoudt. … Ridgewood, which is the co-op of Cambridge-Woodhull Alwood, beat Lincoln Trail rival Abingdon-Avon, 9-4, for the regional title at Sciota, repeating as champions. Ridgewood was the Lincoln Trail champion (17-3) with a pair of victories over West Central. … Morrison edged Three Rivers rival and host Newman, 1-0, for its regional title. West Central knocked off London Mills Spoon River Valley, 6-2, to win the regional at Williamsfield, where it beat St. Bede at sectional last year. St. Bede seeks its third sectional title in five seasons and to make it back to state for first time since 2019, when it placed third. “There’s some good teams in our sectional. We played Ridgewood last year in the first game of our sectional which we came out of with a win. It’s a new year, though, and we have to come out firing on all cylinders like we have been,” SBA coach Shawn Sons said. … The best thing for St. Bede will be playing at home. “The girls are ready, the coaches are ready. Everyone is ready. Everyone is super excited about hosting the sectional,” Sons said. “The home field crowd we’ll have at our games will be a big plus. It should be electric at Abbot Philip Davey field this week.”

Last year’s sectional finals: West Central 2, St. Bede 1

Next: Winner will advance to the Sterling Supersectional on Monday, May 29 vs. the winner of the Forreston Sectional at 11 a.m.