Caught up last week with former Shepard and St. Francis softball standout Bridget McDermott. These days, she’s a pitching and batting coach.
We got together to talk about it during one of her lessons at the Palos Power field in Palos Heights. It was really cool to see her sitting on a bucket, flipping softballs to 12-year-old Ruby Aardsma.
Aardsma was all smiles as she worked on her swing for half an hour, listening intently to what “coach” had to say. That kid has a pretty mean swing.
“She really knows how to boost your confidence,” Aardsma said. “She knows how to tell you what you’re doing wrong but in a nice way.
“She can even tell me some catching tips because of what she knows being a pitcher.”
The scene fit in perfectly with the fun story McDermott told me about the day she made her unofficial coaching debut.
McDermott was an ailing ace of the pitching staff at Shepard in spring 2019. She was dealing with a nagging back injury for the first part of the season.
But she was far from inactive. In fact, she was more than willing to help out her replacement, Kelly Greene.
“I remember when Kelly got there I would ask coach (Kelsey Clifford) if I could call pitches,” McDermott said. “Cliff would let me sit on the bucket in the dugout and call pitches.
“It was cool that Cliff had the confidence in me to be able to do that. It was good practice for going into college.”
McDermott’s story at Shepard, however, didn’t end on that bucket.
The right-hander not only got back into the lineup before the season’s end, she pitched the Astros to a conference title and was named the South Suburban Red’s player of the year. She graduated as the program’s all-time strikeout leader.
When we talked then about being the conference player of the year, she said she was grateful that the coaches selected her but also was shocked.
“Honestly, there were probably other girls who should have gotten it,” McDermott said.
To this day, she still has a humble attitude that you can’t help but love.
McDermott’s college career at St. Francis was a memorable one. In her senior season, she was more noted as a DH, batting .354 with 10 doubles, three home runs and 31 RBIs.
Her biggest homer for the Saints was an 11th inning walk-off on April 27 to beat Olivet Nazarene 3-2 and clinch the CCAC title for the first time since 2018.
“I just remember when I wasn’t up to bat I would go out and hit off the tee,” McDermott said. “In the 11th, the first pitch was low and inside. The second was outside like the one I’d been hitting off the tee.
“I honestly didn’t think it was going to clear the fence. But it just went over. It was so awesome.”
A finish with a flourish, to be sure.
McDermott has one more year as a student at St. Francis to gain her bachelor’s degree in education. Her client list as a pitching and batting coach, meanwhile, is well into the double digits.
Ultimately, McDermott wants to be a high school teacher and coach. It just so happens that Shepard has a softball opening, but the timing isn’t exactly right.
“It would be cool, but I wouldn’t be able to do that this year,” McDermott said. “I’m still in Joliet for school, and the commute would be too much.”
Clifford, still on the coaching staff as an assistant, has family obligations that would complicate a one-season “comeback” as the head coach.
Something creative needs to happen here.
“Obviously, I’m biased toward Shepard, but really, Bridget would fit in anywhere,” Clifford said. “She deserves a team. She has so much to offer. I think she’d be a phenomenal coach.
“I’d love to see her at third base one day.”
