EF grabs section road win at Belle Vernon
BELLE VERNON – Heading into this season, Elizabeth Forward and Belle Vernon were considered the top two softball teams in Class 4A Section 2.
Elizabeth Forward (6-0, 3-0) got the inside track on the section crown with a 5-2 win at Belle Vernon (3-1 , 6-2 ) Wednesday afternoon.
“We are the top two teams (in the section) and it is always tough to win here,” Elizabeth Forward coach Harry Rutherford said. “It is tough to win the first game (of the season series).
“If you lose (this game), now it is all on them. We know if they beat us (April 28), it is probably a section tie (at worst).”
Elizabeth Forward jumped out to a quick start in the first inning, as it had five hits and took advantage of two Belle Vernon errors to plate four runs before the Leopards took their first at-bat.
“It is tough when you start the game with an error,” Belle Vernon coach Tom Rodriguez said. “They hit the ball well today, and we played good (defense) the rest of the game.”
With her team leading 1-0, Elizabeth Forward’s Bella Gimiliano doubled in two runs and scored the fourth run of the inning on an RBI single by Alivia Grimm.
“The plan was to get off to a fast start,” Rutherford said. “Any time you put runs on a good team, they may look over their shoulder.
To put four runs up, it was a good way to start.”
Belle Vernon got on the board in the bottom of the inning when Mia Zubovic singled in Gracie Sokol, and the Leps seemed primed to have a big inning in the third.
Alexa Daniels walked, Gracie Sokol singled and Maren Metikosh walked to load the bases with one out.
Elizabeth Forward pitcher Shelby Telegdy walked Zubovic to score Daniels to make the score 4-2, but she settled down to get the next two batters out.
“She limited the damage,” Rutherford said of Telegdy. “She knows when we get to 2-2, we are going after the hitter.”
Gimiliano recorded her third RBI in the fifth when she singled in Telegdy to give the Warriors a 5-2 lead, but Belle Vernon threatened in the bottom of the inning.
Daniels and Sokol singled to lead off the inning, but Telegdy retired the next three to escape any damage. Telegdy recorded the final nine outs in succession.
Rutherford didn’t want his team to allow Maren Metikosh another at-bat.
“We didn’t want to give No. 7 a chance,” he said of Metikosh. “I told (Telegdy) to go after those three (batters) and not give (Metikosh) a shot.”
Telegdy scatted five hits, all singles, over seven innings and struck out nine.
“That’s the most we have struck out all year,” Rodriguez said. “We had the bases loaded with one out and got one run, then had first and second and we don’t score.
“A key is timely hitting, but we just didn’t get them today.”
Julia Resnik led EF with three singles, Gimiliano had a double and single while Lauren Vay and Telegdy had two singles apiece.
Sokol led Belle Vernon with three singles.