Apr 13, 2018 3 min read

BELLE VERNON – Tom Rodriguez said during this year that Belle Vernon has to have timely hitting as well as play solid defense and not solely rely on pitcher Bailey Parshall to win games.

In their 4-0 Section 2-AAAA loss to rival Yough Friday, the Leopards (4-2, 2-2) were no-hit by Kierra Waywood and made four errors, including three in the second inning that led to a pair of unearned runs for the Cougars.

“Nothing has changed and when you don’t get a hit, you can’t expect to win,” said Rodriguez, the Leopards’ head coach. “It is frustrating.”

This game was a rematch of last year’s WPIAL finals, a 4-1 win by Yough.

Waywood struck out nine batters and had three walks, but all of them were intentional walks to Parshall.

While Parshall, who finished with 11 strikeouts and only gave up three hits, is considered one of the top pitchers in the country, she also is a lethal hitter.

Yough coach Dutch Harvey said he will not let Parshall impact the game at the plate.

“It is a no-brainer and she will never hit against us again,” he said. “She will never swing a bat against us again and it doesn’t matter if the bases are loaded. She is that good and I won’t let her beat us at the plate.”

Rodriguez spoke about the strategy as well.

“Teams may start doing that,” he said. “We need to get one or two runners on before Bailey.”

The Cougars (8-1, 5-0) extended their lead to 3-0 in the fifth.

With one out, Hannah Bach singled and stole second before advancing to third on a passed ball.

Bach scored when leadoff hitter Nina Maroney hit a dribbler into the infield and the throw home was late.

In the seventh, Bach scored Yough’s last run when Aubrie Mance singled her in.

Rodriguez feels his team has to quickly gain experience .

“Thirteen of our 22 players never played varsity softball before this season,” he said. “I don’t have a whole lot to pick from right now.”

Belle Vernon has another important game today against South Fayette.

“I told the girls we have to forget about (Friday’s loss) as we have a lot of section games coming up,” he said. “I sure hope the girls can put this behind them since we play tomorrow morning.”

The BVA at South Fayette game starts at 10 a.m.