Apr 6, 2016 4 min read

BELLE VERNON – The memories of a championship season are very much in the past for Belle Vernon softball, but one memory from that historic season remains with the four starters back in green and gold.

One week after hoisting the WPIAL Class AAA championship trophy at California University’s Lilley Field last May, the Leopards’ playoff run ended with a PIAA quarterfinal loss to section rival Trinity.

It was difficult for revenge to be the story for Belle Vernon in the days leading up to the matchup Wednesday. The Leopards were simply focused on scoring runs. In some games, even two will do the trick.

They finally found some success on offense against Trinity and it was enough for Belle Vernon to walk away with a 9-5 Section 3-AAA win at Washington Township Park.

The victory came a day after it lost to rival Thomas Jefferson, 1-0, despite allowing only one hit.

“For a change, we did (extend at-bats) after losing 1-0 and having three hits,” Belle Vernon head coach Tom Rodriguez said. “We need to do better at that. We’re swinging at bad pitches. If it’s (a 2-0 count), I want to wait for a perfect pitch. I don’t want anything up, I don’t want anything down.”

The Leopards (2-1, 5-3) showed patience Wednesday, scoring five runs in the second inning and four in the third, and with sophomore pitcher Bailey Parshall in the circle, that sort of run support is usually enough. The Penn State recruit had a no-hitter through four innings, but she allowed two runs in the fifth and three in the seventh.

The Hillers (0-2, 1-5), who lost their fifth straight and back-to-back section games for the first time since 2012, snapped the no-hit bid when Payton Barr hit a leadoff single in the fifth inning and senior shortstop Kim Dunst, one of only three players with significant varsity experience entering the season, hit an inside-the-park two-run homer to make the score 9-2.

Trinity added three runs in the seventh when Barr scored on an error, and Lauren McGavitt and Santana King delivered RBI, but Parshall got one of her 10 strikeouts to end the game.

“They just started getting on me,” Parshall said. “They just hit the ball. My main goal was to get ahead in the count. It was bad.”

The Hillers got clutch hits from the bottom half of its order, including Dunst, who played an outstanding game defensively with a diving stop in the fifth and a double play to end the Leopards’ four-run fourth. Barr went 2-for-3 with two runs and Dunst was 1-for-2 with a pair of runs and two RBI.

Trinity’s top four hitters in the order were a combined 2-for-14 with six strikeouts. The Hillers also used three pitchers who combined to issue nine walks and a hit batter, but the defense improved throughout the game, forcing Belle Vernon to strand nine baserunners.

“We started out cold,” Trinity head coach Shawn Gray said. “We didn’t put any balls in play and we struggled at keeping people off the bases. We have to make sure we don’t give them opportunities to get free bases with walks or hit batters. We have to concentrate on that.”

The Leopards left the bases loaded after drawing two walks in the first, but they took advantage in the second with five runs. After a walk and an infield single, right fielder Megan Christner hit a two-run single.

Trinity senior pitcher Paige Galentine hit the next batter and walked another to load the bases before Belle Vernon sophomore Kourtney Gavatorta drew an eight-pitch walk for a 3-0 lead. Hanna Legazza delivered two batters later with a two-run single to right.

After a quick top of the third, the Leopards loaded the bases with a double, walk and bunt single. Junior center fielder Lexie Church delivered an infield single that drove in a run, and another run scored when the ball was kicked into shallow center field.

Two batters later, Gavatorta delivered a two-run single up the middle for the 9-0 lead. Every starter reached base safely for Belle Vernon to help Parshall’s varsity record improve to 26-5 and the Leopards gain a bit of redemption.

“We were really hoping for it,” Parshall said. “We’ve been having trouble hitting, but we pulled through today.”