Elizabeth Forward erased a two-run deficit with a clutch fifth inning and then leaned on timely defense and strong pitching late to punch its ticket back to the WPIAL Class 4A championship game with a 4-3 semifinal victory over Hopewell on Wednesday.
The Warriors (16-5) are headed to the district finals for the second straight season and will face top-seeded Indiana in a rematch of last year’s title game.
“Oh man, we’re so excited to get back here,” Elizabeth Forward coach Frank Champ said. “We’ve never made it back-to-back years playing for the championship in school history — we’re looking forward to it.”
The Vikings (16-5) entered the semifinals riding momentum after upsetting No. 3 Valley in the quarterfinals, and they nearly added another upset before EF rallied late.
Both teams relied on strong pitching and defense early as Warriors starter Nate Grimm and Hopewell’s Ben McDonald kept hitters in check through the opening two innings.
Hopewell finally broke through in the top of the third inning.
James “Booboo” Armstrong worked a walk and promptly stole both second and third before Charles Smetana lined an RBI single to give the Vikings a 1-0 lead.
Elizabeth Forward struggled to find much rhythm offensively early, but Grimm continued to settle in on the mound while the Warriors defense came up with several key plays behind him.
The Warriors finally answered in the bottom of the fourth.
Pinch-runner Logan Ryder advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by Daniel Spence before Nick Hartung delivered an RBI hit that tied the game at 1-1.
Hopewell responded immediately in the fifth inning.
Jacob Knobloch reached base on a close play and later advanced after a Warriors error. Another walk and defensive miscues helped set the table before Kingston Krotec delivered a two-run sacrifice fly that gave the Vikings a 3-1 advantage.
Despite trailing late in the game, Champ never sensed panic from his team.
“Never once did the kids hang their heads at any point,” Champ said. “They haven’t all year and were just ready to battle until the last out. We talked about that.”
Elizabeth Forward answered with its biggest inning of the game in the bottom of the fifth.
McDonald struck out the first two batters to stay in control, but the Warriors quickly came alive. Jack Crovak singled for his second hit of the game before his brother, JB Crovak, was hit by a pitch.
That brought Jacob Peterson to the plate, and the senior came through with the biggest hit of the night — a game-tying triple that scored both Crovaks and ignited the Warriors dugout and crowd.
Hopewell threatened to regain momentum in the sixth inning, but Brayden Kollar made a diving catch in right field to rob James Gill of a potential extra-base hit.
“He’s done that for us all year in right field,” Champ said of Kollar. “He’s made tremendous plays for us. I have all the confidence in him.”
Kollar then helped deliver the winning run in the bottom half of the inning.
Hartung reached on an error and aggressively advanced to third base before Kollar lined a clutch hit into the left-field gap to bring him home and give the Warriors their first lead of the game at 4-3.
Grimm returned to the mound in the seventh inning and recorded another out before finishing a strong outing of 6⅓ innings and more than 100 pitches.
“Nate was fantastic,” Champ said. “I mean, all the pressure in the world and he was calm and collected. Strong outing.”
Champ also credited Peterson for stepping into a difficult relief role late in the game.
“I had to put JP in a tough situation to close it down, and he dealt with the stress and emotions of that,” Champ said.
Armstrong grounded out to shortstop Aiden Grimes for the final out as the Warriors celebrated another trip to the WPIAL championship game.