Bucyrus freshman pitcher Caleigh Rister is having a ridiculous first season on the high school softball diamond. The Lady Redmen star has a 1.27 ERA with 76 strikeouts and just 9 walks from the circle so far this spring, batting for a .465 average while leading the Northern 10 Conference in runs with 26 and steals with 20.
In an effort to better understand what makes the young fireballer tick, the OH.Report sent in a brand of journalist that would be guaranteed to keep an athlete on their toes; 9-year-old Aaliyah Skowronski, who grills Rister with a 9-pack of hard-hitting questions that force Caleigh to dig deep for imaginative answers.
9 Questions with a 9-Year-Old: Caleigh Rister
Bucyrus Takes Down Carey On Burling’s Walk-Off
Monday’s matchup between Carey and Bucyrus don’t get much bigger when it comes to the conference chase for the Northern 10 crown. The Blue Devils entered the contest unblemished in league action at 10-0 with a chance to clinch an outright championship while the Lady Redmen could share a piece of the title with a season sweep of the conference foe.
Carey took an early 3-0 edge by plating a trio of runs in their half of the 2nd but Bucyrus would answer in the bottom half of the 3rd with a pair of runs to close the margin to a single score. After trading runs with the Blue Devils scoring in the 4th and Lady Redmen getting one in the 5th, Bucyrus then took a 5-4 lead with a 2-run 6th inning.
Conference batting leader Hailey Niederkohr then tied the game with a 2-out RBI triple in the top half of the 7th to knot the game up in the final inning. Freshman pitcher Caleigh Rister then started Bucyrus’ half of the inning on third base and senior Isadora Burling brought her home with a walk-off single, the first game-winning hit of her career.
The win for Bucyrus (12-3, 10-2) now gives them an opportunity to win a share of the N10 championship with a victory over Carey (13-3, 10-1) at their place on Wednesday.