Chester has won the state ‘B’ softball championship! The Flyers defeated the defending champions Castlewood 19-8 on Saturday in Aberdeen. An impressive win for a program in its first year fielding a sanctioned high school team.
Chester's only loss on the season came against Alcester-Hudson at the beginning of May. Despite having a great year, a lot of the attention remained on Castlewood and Alcester-Hudson. But come tournament time, the Flyers were at their best. They shutout Deuel 10-0 in the quarterfinals, took down Alcester-Hudson 10-4 in the semi’s, and then put on an offensive showing in the championship beating Castlewood 19-8.
“I’m so proud. From our first day of practice and nobody knowing who the Chester Flyers were, and not thinking we should be ranked,” said Flyers head softball coach Laura Biagi. “To come in here and put up 10, 10, and then 19, I’m so proud. They did it as a team.”
Dugout Cam: Chester takes down Castlewood, the defending champs, to win the 2024 'B' softball title. #SDPreps #SDSoftball pic.twitter.com/XhEuHugfPs
— SDPB Sports (@SDPBSports) June 2, 2024
The bats were on full display for the Flyers in Saturday’s title game. Five runs in the second, four runs in the fourth, and seven runs in the seventh were some of the key stretches in the game.
Lexi Bauman led the team with five RBI’s in the contest. Mara McDonald and Makaylyn Borecky each had three RBI’s, while Jacy Wolf scored five times and had two RBI’s. Lauren Roberts pitched all seven innings for the Flyers. She gave up seven hits, three earned runs, and recorded eleven strikeouts.
It’s been a special year in general for Chester in athletics, but this year’s softball team has to be right up at the top of the list.
“We work hard. We were prepared. We do a lot of tee work and drills and constantly, and it’s hard because we split time with track and golf, but they work hard,” Biagi exclaimed. “They come focused, but yet they have a lot of fun. And they get along, which is huge, because they always know somebody has their back. It’s a whole team.”
Coach Biagi also mentioned how the community of Chester is incredibly important in the success of the school and its activities.
“Our community is the best. Everybody comes together in a time of need. It’s beautiful,” she said. “Our field was under water for our playoff game. Tons of people came out to fix that field and suck water off the field. You can’t beat that small town, it’s special. I’m proud to be a part of it.”
With three seniors on the roster, there’s a lot of talent coming back next year.
“We have a bunch of juniors, sophomores, we have middle schoolers. Our JV team was undefeated as well this year,” explained Biagi. “We’re on the radar. When I started, nobody was talking in the hallways about Chester softball. When we started playing, little kids started saying “I want to play softball. I want to be like them,” so that’s a big deal.”
