LAWRENCE — Somewhere between her painful jog back to the dugout in the first inning and the final out seven innings later, St. Mary’s Colgan junior Bella Ascanio turned discomfort into dominance.
After pulling her hamstring while sliding home in the opening inning, Ascanio refused to come out — and instead delivered one of the most memorable championship performances in program history.
The junior ace was nearly untouchable Friday at Arrocha Ballpark, striking out 12 and allowing just one hit in a complete-game shutout as St. Mary’s Colgan captured the Class 2-1A state softball championship with a commanding 5-0 victory over Mission Valley.
And she wasn’t done there.
Ascanio also starred at the plate with two hits, including a towering solo home run to left-center in the third inning that extended the Panthers’ lead and effectively put the game out of reach.
For Colgan, it marked the program’s first state title since 2021 and capped an impressive turnaround season under first-year head coach Cassie Rhuems.
St. Mary's Colgan junior pitcher Bella Ascanio pitched a complete game one-hitter and had 12 strikeouts in the Panthers' win over Mission Valley.
“We knew we had a good pitcher and anytime you have that you have a great chance to be successful,” Rhuems said. “We just needed to build around her and I thought we did a great job doing that. We had kids in new positions, we took kids to the other side of the plate and did things we needed to do to give ourselves a chance to be successful. Credit to the kids for buying in, working hard and never giving up.”
Ascanio set the tone immediately.
After Drew Dayton reached and later scored, Colgan struck first in the top of the opening inning when Callie Lundy delivered an RBI single. Moments later, Ascanio raced home on an error to give the Panthers an early 2-0 advantage.
But the celebration was short-lived.
While sliding into home, Ascanio felt something wrong.
“When I was rounding third, I just felt a pull on the back of my leg and it hurt a little bit,” Ascanio said. “Our trainer worked on it a little bit and I was good to go after that. I just had to keep pushing through it.”
Coming out of the game never crossed her mind — or her coach’s.
“I am one of those people where you can be sore on the way home,” Rhuems said. “You are going to have to gut this out and she is one of those kids too that has that same mentality. She wasn’t coming out of the game and she did a great job.”
Colgan's Callie Lundy connects on one of her team-high two hits Friday in the state title game against Mission Valley.
The injury did little to slow her down.
Ascanio retired hitters in bunches, overpowering the Vikings lineup with pinpoint command and an aggressive approach in the circle.
“My mindset was to just attack,” Ascanio said. “I just wanted to get every pitch over the plate, attack, get first strike. Then at the plate, I knew that if we scored early we could just slide right in and win it and that is what we did.”
Rhuems said Ascanio’s growth over the second half of the season made all the difference.
“B was lights out and she has been lights out for us the whole year,” Rhuems said. “I just think she threw a really great tournament for us. We have really focused, especially on the latter part of this year, on just location, location, location. She did a great job minimizing walks and having to learn to trust her defense.”
That trust paid off Friday.
Colgan added to its lead in the third inning when Ascanio crushed a leadoff homer to left-center to make it 3-0. Later in the inning, Kylee Kretchmar stole home to stretch the advantage to four runs.
The Panthers added an insurance run in the seventh when Lundy scored on an Addie Morris groundout.
Lundy joined Ascanio with a team-high two hits and drove in a run, while Morris also collected an RBI in the championship effort.
Colgan catcher Kylee Kretchmar was all smiles after running down a foul ball Friday.
While Colgan’s offense supplied support, Ascanio controlled the game from the circle. Mission Valley never found an answer as the junior struck out 12, walked just one and allowed only a single.
“This was probably one of the best games I have ever pitched and a big thanks goes to my pitching coach,” Ascanio said. “We had a great talk before the game and that really helped me a lot and calm me down before a big game.”
Her tournament was equally dominant.
Ascanio surrendered only four runs during the Panthers’ state run — all coming in the quarterfinals against Inman — and followed that up with back-to-back shutouts against Cedar Vale/Dexter in the semifinals and Mission Valley in the title game. Across the three games, she piled up 34 strikeouts.
The championship also carried added significance for Rhuems, who won five state championships at Frontenac before making the move to Colgan for family reasons.
The transition wasn’t always smooth.
“I will be honest, the first couple of weeks of practice I asked myself, ‘What have I done?’” Rhuems said with a laugh. “I thought this was going to be rough because I am not used to losing.”
But as the season progressed, the Panthers transformed.
“I knew I would have to work on the fundamentals and the skills with these kids,” Rhuems said. “It made it really easy to do because these kids just wanted to be coached. They wanted to get better and they wanted to learn. They asked questions and they let us push them. Ultimately, this is probably one of the most enjoyable seasons I have had.”
Colgan's Brooklynn Barrows hoists the state championship trophy Friday as the Panthers won their first state title since 2021.
The title became even more impressive considering the circumstances.
Mother Nature forced delays throughout the tournament, pushing both semifinal and championship games to Friday and forcing the semifinal winners to play twice in one day.
“I think it just comes down to leadership,” Rhuems said. “My assistants and I kept telling the kids that this was out of their control and everyone is dealing with the same situation. We just have to control the things we can control and the weather is not one of them.”
Colgan did exactly that.
The Panthers shut out Cedar Vale/Dexter, 7-0, in the semifinals before turning around and handling Mission Valley with little trouble in the championship.
For Mission Valley and first-year coach Logan Brammel, the loss ended a remarkable 29-3 season fueled by senior ace Maddie Kraus, who battled through injury all postseason.
Kraus — the school record holder with 562 career strikeouts — pitched the state tournament with a broken finger suffered during regionals and came off a 14-strikeout performance in a 2-0 semifinal victory over Uniontown.
Mission Valley pitcher Maddie Kraus recorded 14 strikeouts in the Vikings' semifinal win over Uniontown on Friday. Kraus is the school record holder for career strikeouts.
“We had one of the most dominant 2A pitchers in the circle,” Brammel said. “She held her own in the regional championship and the rest of the season with a broken finger on her pitching hand. Then she got drilled in the shin in the first inning of the championship game and continued to throw seven innings.”
The challenge was even greater considering it was the first time in Kraus’ career she had pitched on back-to-back days.
“We hung in there and never gave up,” Brammel said. “Just wasn’t our day at the plate and we gave it all we had till the very end.”
For Colgan, though, Friday belonged to the Panthers — and especially their junior star.
“Honestly, I am still in shock,” Ascanio said. “It kind of feels like we won another game, but that one game is a state championship. It is just really exciting.
“This is just awesome. We have just worked so hard and all that hard work finally paid off.”