HOLMES TOWNSHIP — Just how good is Bucyrus’ Caleigh Rister?

Despite losing a year to COVID-19. Rister is back to mid-season form.

Inside the circle, Rister fired three perfect innings, striking out seven. At the plate, the Bucyrus senior ripped four hits, including a triple and a double, as the Lady Red downed Wynford, 11-1, in a five-inning performance.

With the win, Bucyrus improves to 5-0 in the Northern 10 Conference, 8-1 overall. The young Lady Royals fell to 1-5 in the league, 2-7 overall.

In the circle, Rister is now 7-0 and she leads the N10 with a 0.49 earned run average. She has struck out 66 in 43 innings.

As a hitter, Rister is among the N10 leaders with a .577 batting average, along with three homers and 10 RBI.

She did nothing to hurt those marks Tuesday.

Bucyrus coach Jerry “Pudge” Hargis said that Rister has worked very hard to get where she is.

“(Rister’s) got a lot of stuff,” Hargis said. “She’s worked at it extremely hard. And not just this year but for two or three years and she’ll go to college and be a pitcher. She’s also a great kid. I can’t say enough about how great a kid she is and how much work she does for the school and the community. She’s just a great person.

“When she was a sophomore, she was the best player in the league, and, of course, last year, she didn’t get to play and now she’s just picking it up where she was,” Hargis added.

Wynford coach Jamee Burke agreed with the Bucyrus coach on Rister.

“Offensively and defensively, she brings it,” Burke said. “It’s a very good showing from her.”

The Lady Red scored three times in the first. After Rister tripled to open the game, Bucyrus benefitted from four walks by Wynford starter Maycie Morgan and a Wynford error.

Bucyrus scored five more times in the second. Rister and Karli Spears each doubled, and Haley Dye and Taisha Spears added singles.

Morgan went two innings in the circle for the Lady Royals, striking out one and walking four. Adreana Estep worked the final three frames, striking out three and walking none.

Burke said that, despite the shaky start, Morgan is getting better.

“Our pitching is young, too,” Burke said. “Maycie really didn’t throw that much as a freshman and she lost her sophomore year. So, our ace is kind of a rookie as a junior. “I know everyone is in that boat, but we’ll shore some things up. It’s still early, at this point we’re 10 games in, but it’s still pretty early in the season. We’ll figure some things out and we’ll be okay.”

Bucyrus banged out 11 hits. Jade Torres added a single and a double for the Lady Red, which is an improvement, according to Hargis.

“I think we’re getting better as we go here,” Hargis said. “We’re getting some real good pitching out of both of our pitchers and we’re playing good defense.

“We started the season a little lax with our bats,” he added. “Right now, we’re coming around. We’re doing some good things.”

Wynford finished with four hits, as Morgan, Kearston Hulsmeyer, Schafer and Maddie Johnson each singled.

“Other than against Bucyrus, I feel that we’re a pretty good hitting team,” Burke said. “We see Caleigh and that really doesn’t show as well. Before that, we’re getting double digits in hits and scoring runs. But we have to shore some things up on defense. We are young in the infield and losing a year didn’t help.”

Box Score

Bucyrus      351 02X X     11     11      1

Wynford     000 01X X       1        4      7

WP: Caleigh Rister (7 SO, 0 W)

LP: Maycie Morgan (2 SO, 4 W)

HR: None.

Triples: (B) Caleigh Rister.

Doubles: (B) Caleigh Rister 2, Jade Torres, Karli Spears.

Multiple hits: (B) Caleigh Rister 4, Jade Torres, Karli Spears.

Records: Bucyrus 8-1, 5-0 N10; Wynford 2-7, 1-5 N10.

Next: Pleasant at Bucyrus, Wednesday; Ridgedale at Wynford, Wednesday.