Trib HSSN softball team of the week – Elizabeth Forward Warriors
Coach: Harry Rutherford (15th year)
Record: Elizabeth Forward clinched the Section 2-4A championship with an 11-1 section record, finishing two games in front of second-place West Mifflin. The Warriors are 14-3 overall and won 10 straight games before a regular-season finale loss.
#Earned: Elizabeth Forward clinched the outright Section 2-4A championship Saturday, May 3 with an impressive road win at second-place West Mifflin, 8-1. The Warriors scored one in the first inning, two each in the third and fourth and added three more runs in the seventh. This past week began with one of the most impressive victories of the spring for EF, a win over 2024 WPIAL Class 4A champion Thomas Jefferson. The Warriors broke a 2-2 tie with three runs in the fourth inning and held on to win, 5-3. Win No. 14 on the season came Wednesday in the final section contest of the season at Ringgold. EF scored seven runs in the first and led by eight after three innings when the Warriors scored four times in the fifth inning to finish the victory early, 15-3. The week and season ended with a hard-fought loss to the undefeated Class 2A top-ranked team, Neshannock, 8-5.
Standout performers: In the victory over West Mifflin, senior pitcher Julia Johnson limited the Titans to one run on three hits with two walks and six strikeouts. She also had an RBI double. Senior Alivia Grimm, junior Addy Nigut and sophomore Sophie Pasinsky each had two hits for the Warriors with Nigut hitting a home run and driving in three runs. In the triumph at Thomas Jefferson, five EF players enjoyed a two-hit game, including juniors Nigut, Julie Resnik, Aubri Cimba and Hannah Evans and sophomore Berlyn Holibaugh. Nigut had two doubles and two RBIs and Cimba had a double and two RBIs. Against Ringgold, Grimm had three hits while Evans, Cimba and Johnson each contributed two hits as part of an EF 15-hit attack that included home runs by Evans, Cimba, Johnson and Pasinsky. Finally, against Neshannock, Cimba and Nigut each had two hits and Cimba drove in two runs. For the season, the Warriors have seven regulars batting over .400 in Resnik (.592), Nigut and Holibaugh (.500), Grimm (.469), Cimba (.457), Johnson (.423) and Pasinsky (.415). Resnik has four home runs and Nigut has a team-high 25 RBIs.
Last year: Last spring was a banner year for Elizabeth Forward. The Warriors first were undefeated Section 2-4A champions, going 12-0 in section. Following a first-round bye in the district playoffs, EF shut out West Mifflin, 10-0, and then defeated Chartiers Valley, 7-2, to advance to the WPIAL finals. In the Class 4A championship game, Shelby Telegdy was 2 for 3 with a run scored, a home run and three RBIs, plus she pitched a complete game in allowing two runs on six hits as Elizabeth Forward crushed Hampton, 10-2. The Warriors then knocked off Big Spring, Chartiers Valley and Archbishop Wood in the state playoffs to reach the PIAA 4A title game, when they lost to Blue Mountain, 4-0, ending a 23-2 overall season with district gold and state silver.
Remember when: The WPIAL championship captured by Elizabeth Forward last season was the program’s second. The first came five years earlier in 2019. Following victories over Indiana in the quarterfinals, 5-1, and Knoch in the semifinals, 4-0, the Warriors were in the finals against Mt. Pleasant. EF scored a run in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth, which would be all the offense it would need. Kailey Larcinese threw a complete-game shutout, scattering three hits while striking out nine, as the Warriors captured the WPIAL championship in softball for the first time in school history, blanking the Vikings, 3-0.
2025 Trib HSSN Softball Teams of the Week
Week 4 – West Allegheny Indians
Week 3 – Jeannette Jayhawks
Week 2 – Pine-Richland Rams
Week 1 – West Mifflin Titans