Jun 2, 2014 2 min read

It wasn’t the prettiest win for the Burgettstown girls softball team this season, but the Blue Devils will take it.

Morgan Ellek had a pair of doubles and scored three runs and Burgettstown pitchers stranded 17 Southern Huntingdon runners on base as the Blue Devils defeated the Rockets, 6-4, in eight innings in a PIAA first-round Class A softball game at Penn State University’s Beard Field Monday.

With the score tied at 4-4 in the top of the eighth, Sami Scopel led off the inning with a single. With one out, Ellek reached on an error to put runners at first and third, setting the table for Katie Tarr.

Tarr ripped a double off the fence to drive in both runners and give the Blue Devils (18-5) the lead.

Ellek picked up the victory in relief of starter Tarr, pitching the final two innings.

Tarr allowed four runs, three of which were earned, on 10 hits and seven walks. She struck out five. Like Tarr, Ellek pitched out of a pair of jams in the seventh and eighth innings, as Southern Huntingdon (19-4) left three runners on base in the seventh and two in the eighth.

Julisa Zinobile went the distance for Southern Huntingdon, allowing 10 hits and no walks while striking out four in eight innings. Zinobile was let down by her defense, however, which committed seven errors, including five at shortstop in the fifth and sixth innings.

Burgettstown, the third-place finisher in the WPIAL, advances to Thursday’s quarterfinals where they will get a rematch with WPIAL champion Neshannock, an 11-1 winner Monday in five innings over Smethport. The site and time for that game has yet to be determined.

Neshannock defeated Burgettstown, 11-0, in five innings in last week’s WPIAL semifinals.