Chaffee softball finish home slate 9-1 with 17-2 win over Perryville

Chaffee closed out the home slate of the regular season with a 17-2 win over Perryville on Monday, Oct. 9, in Chaffee, Mo.

Reese Van Pelt had a day on the circle and at the plate. The junior went 2-for-3 with five RIBs and pitched the full four innings with only two earned runs. Bailey Robertson went 2-for-4 with four RBIs to help power the Red Devils.

Van Pelt started the season with a bicep injury and is getting healthy at the right time.

"I don't think I'm all the way full," Van Pelt said. "I could definitely still have some room to get back to where I was but I kind of impressed myself a little bit. It was kind of a serious injury and now I'm back."

She has been a fixture in the Red Devil lineup throughout the season but has recently started making pitching appearances, taking on upper-class teams like Sikeston, Jackson, and Farmington.

"I come in with the same approach every time," Van Pelt said. "I know my defense has my back."

With the win, the Red Devils have now won 17 games for the first time since their final four appearances in 2017 (18-13). They also have two more wins than the 2015 team that took third place in the state tournament (15-15).

This is arguably the best Chaffee regular-season team in recent history. Not only are the Red Devils entering the district tournament with more wins than any other year since 2009 — when MSHSAA.com started keeping track — but their offense (9.5 runs per game) and defense (3.5 runs allowed per game), led by freshman pitcher Carlyanne Cossou, tops any other year in the past decade.

"We've not had all of the talent but we've worked together as a team in the last two years and surprised everybody," Van Pelt said. "It's all just coming together, finally."

Chaffee capitalized on home-cooking this season, going 9-1 at home, with the only loss coming against North County in extra innings.

"The atmosphere is unbeatable," Van Pelt said. "When your atmosphere is unbeatable your team, doesn't necessarily become unbeatable, but it feels like that."

The Red Devils finish the regular season at Notre Dame on Wednesday before embarking on the Class 2 District 1 Tournament in Benton, Mo, as the top seed in the bracket. The Red Devils will take on the winner between Saxony Lutheran and St. Pius X on Oct. 13.

"I think as long as we play together and we play our game, we can go all the way," Van Pelt said. "There's not a team that can beat us on our best day."

The Red Devils are looking to go as far as the baseball team did this past spring. The baseball team finishing in third place has been a motivating factor for the softball team to up their game this fall.

"Absolutely," Van Pelt said. "You want to come out and showcase both your softball and baseball programs, and our baseball team, I know they're cheering for us. Everybody thinks it would be awesome if we did it back-to-back."