Down by three runs in the bottom of the fourth, the Elizabeth Forward Warriors knew it was time to rally. And rally they did.
Elizabeth Forward scored five unanswered runs across the fourth and fifth innings to secure a 5-3 comeback victory in the WPIAL Class 4A championship game over Blackhawk on Thursday at Lilley Field at Cal (Pa.).
The win was coach Harry Rutherford’s 250th since he took over the Elizabeth Forward program.
“Pretty special to have it on the WPIAL championship as well,” Rutherford said.
Elizabeth Forward center fielder Hannah Evans led the Warriors to this historic win, the program’s third WPIAL championship. Evans went 2 for 3, hitting the game-winning two-run triple in the bottom of the fifth inning. She also stole a base and scored a run.
“We purposely set her up if she gets on, and I have my best bunter or fake bunter in behind her,” Rutherford said. “So, we take a lot of strikes to let her steal second and even steal third a couple times this year, and then let Aubrey (Cimba) try to hit her in, so it’s worked out well for us.”
Elizabeth Forward’s Addyson Nigut walked to begin the bottom of the fourth, and Evans singled to break up Blackhawk pitcher Kylie Prisuta’s no-hitter. Cimba sacrificed to push Nigut to third and Evans to second, and then the Warriors struck.
Sophia Pasinsky drove a fly ball just outside the left field line. Morgan Alexander caught it, but the junior fell while securing the catch. That allowed the speedy Evans, who stole 23 bases entering the game, to race home from second to complete the rare two-run sacrifice fly.
“I’m a very aggressive baserunner in general. … As soon as I saw her go down on the line, I knew I could get two bags,” Evans said. “I saw her warm up, and one thing about watching warmups is you know how strong the arms are, you know how they react to plays and I just think that as soon as I saw her go down, I knew that I had to (go home).
“And Coach Harry, he kind of knows that I trust myself when I’m running, for sure, and he started waving me as soon as he saw how hard I was coming around the base.”
Rutherford agreed.
“I think the left fielder wanted to celebrate making such a good run,” Rutherford said. “And then when she slipped and still held onto the ball, (I) believe she forgot there were runners on base. … There was no doubt I was waving (Evans) through when I’d seen her going down.”
In the top of the fifth inning, Julia Resnik switched places with Berlyn Holibaugh, who moved to shortstop, to take over in the circle.
Resnik was the winning pitcher. She pitched the last three innings, allowing three hits, but most importantly, no runs. Holibaugh went four innings, striking out two batters and allowing three earned runs.
“(Berlyn)’s not a seasoned pitcher. She’s been my second baseman. … She did a great job all year long, 16-2, but I can tell when she’s wearing down,” Rutherford said. “And this is the end of the season, a long season for her, and we always had Jules in mind, that she’d come in and just throw some heat. And that’s exactly what we’ve looked for.”
Resnik reached on an error, bringing home Claire Balint for Elizabeth Forward’s first run in the fifth. After Nigut singled up the middle, that’s when Evans came up big with her two-RBI triple.
“I trust my preparation, I trust myself, and I know that I can get it done when it counts,” Evans said. “Nobody else I would want to be up rather than myself. I wouldn’t want to put that pressure on anyone else, and I know I can execute. And (Prisuta) was throwing me inside all game. I knew she was going to try to go outside and see what I could do with it, and obviously, I burned the right fielder, so I think that’s a mistake on them.”
Prisuta took a tough loss. Despite allowing just three hits and two earned runs, four errors by the Blackhawk defense proved costly. Prisuta also struck out four and walked three.
“They’re a great, great program. They’ll represent 4A softball. They’re the top of the echelon,” Blackhawk coach Jim Riggio said. “We’ve been here twice in a row. We’ve had two heartbreaking games in a row. It’s hard. We had the dreaded 3-0 lead in both of them, lost the lead in both of them. But at the end of the day, listen, bad hop at second base there. My second baseman hasn’t made an error all year. Sometimes, in these kinds of games, all it takes is one little hop here or there, and it leads to a couple runs. But hey, we battled.”
Blackhawk began to build its “dreaded” lead when Holibaugh ran into trouble in the top of the third. The junior hit Chloe Franitti with a 2-2 pitch and walked Hannah Nolte. Following Eva Parris’s sacrifice, Blackhawk had runners on second and third with one out.
Brynn Hysong then hit a fly ball just far enough for Franitti to tag up and sneak her foot under the tag of the catcher, Pasinsky, to break the scoreless tie. However, the Cougars weren’t done. Senior Addy Ramer hit a high fly ball to center field just over the head of Evans for an RBI double, the first hit of the game for either team, to make it 2-0.
Blackhawk added to its lead in the top of the fourth. Parris ripped a hit down the left field line for an RBI that scored Alexander, who walked earlier in the inning. Blackhawk only needed three hits to take a 3-0 lead.
After the Elizabeth Forward rally, Resnik pitched a scoreless sixth and clean top of the seventh to close out Blackhawk to complete the Warriors’ second WPIAL title in three years.
“We’ll do the same thing in the state games (regarding pitchers). Berlyn’s the lead here, and Jules, she’s coming off the ACL tear, so I don’t want her pitching a whole lot either,” Rutherford said. “And she’s one of my D1 commits, so we’re gonna take it easy with her as well. So, we’ll play it by ear, just like we have the last two games.”
Holibaugh and Prisuta started strong from the circle, each pitching a 1-2-3 inning in the first.
Blackhawk’s Lara Selick walked to begin the top of the second, but Holibaugh responded with back-to-back strikeouts and got Alexander to fly out to right-center field to get out of the inning.
Elizabeth Forward pressured Prisuta in the bottom half of the inning. After Evans beat out a throw to first and stole second, Cimba sacrificed to move Evans to third with one out. Prisuta, however, drew a weak popup and groundout to strand the runner at third.