May 30, 2018 4 min read

GREENSBURG – What a jam.

Bailey Parshall gazed across the infield in the bottom of the seventh inning of the biggest softball game of the season.

Bases loaded, no outs, and Parshall’s team, Belle Vernon, ahead by a run. This was a time when reputations didn’t matter. Elizabeth Forward had already touched Parshall for seven hits and four runs, and seemed ready to at least tie the game.

But Parshall was magnificent when she had to be, retiring three in a row, to secure a 5-4 victory over the Warriors Wednesday afternoon in the WPIAL Class 4A title game at Seton Hill University.

Belle Vernon (21-3) won its third title in the last four seasons and fourth overall. Elizabeth Forward (19-4), which split its two Section 2 games against the Leopards, is still searching for its first title.

“I was really frustrated with the pitch calls but we changed our approach (in the seventh inning) and I was able to throw strikes and stay ahead in the count, and we got three outs,” said Parshall. “I was trying to slow it down and throw strikes and that’s what I did.”

Parshall, a Penn State recruit, had neither the velocity on her fastball nor the dominating performance fans have come to expect this season. Still, it was an impressive effort: 11 strikeouts, two walks and four unearned runs.

She entered this game with three no-hitters in the postseason. The string of no-hit innings ended at 20 when EF second baseman Jordan Pinneri laced a clean single up the middle in the fourth inning.

Pinneri’s hit was the only real damage in the inning. Belle Vernon gave the Warriors three runs on three throwing errors and found itself trailing for the first time in the postseason, 3-1.

After exchanging runs in the fifth inning, the game seemed headed for a seventh-inning showdown and the question was whether Elizabeth Forward starter Kailey Larcinese could hold it.

She couldn’t.

Larcinese’s feel for the strike zone evaporated in the top of the seventh as she walked four of the first five batters, one intentionally. Walk No. 4 in the inning and No. 8 in the game, to Kourtney Gavatorta, cut Elizabeth Forward’s lead to 4-3.

Still, Larcinese seemed ready to right the ship and win the game when she struck out designated hitter Sophia Godzak and put two strikes on first baseman Mekenzie Sokol.

But Sokol pulled Belle Vernon back from the abyss with a ringing single to left-centerfield that scored two runs and gave Belle Vernon a 5-4 lead.

“I was looking for a change-up, maybe some junk,” said Sokol. “She put it right down the middle and I swung hard. I wasn’t nervous. I have to keep it cool.”

The game was in the bag now, right?

Not quite yet.

Larcinese opened the bottom of the seventh inning with a single to left field and Anna Resnik doubled to right field to put runners on second and third. Pinneri was intentionally walked to load the bases with hope of getting a force play at home.

After Brianna Sersevic struck out, Belle Vernon got exactly that, a bouncer back to Parshall, who threw to home plate to force out Larcinese for the second out of the inning. Kaylee Ludwig then sent a hard hit ball to left field, where Vanessa Porter made a fine running catch to end the game and start a celebration.

“This one, wow, bases loaded and no outs. I figured they would get at least one run and tie us,” said Belle Vernon head coach Tom Rodriguez. “It was a little nerve-racking.”

The school planned a rally for the back-to-back WPIAL champions. There will be a few days to recover before the PIAA playoffs begin Monday. Belle Vernon plays either the District 5 or 6 champion and Elizabeth Forward takes on the District 9 champion.

“We have a young team,” said EF head coach Harry Rutherford. “We took them to the very end, loaded the bases in the last inning. We just couldn’t push the run across. I’m still very proud of this team.”