PHOTO GALLERY | Westmont Hilltop uses timely hitting, strong pitching to get past Ellwood City in 3A softball
· Yahoo Sports
JOHNSTOWN, Pa. – Westmont Hilltop made the most of its opportunities with runners on base in Monday afternoon's PIAA Class 3A first-round softball playoff game, and that timely hitting helped the Hilltoppers earn their first state tournament win since 1989 with a 4-2 triumph over visiting Ellwood City at West Suburban Little League's Miller Field.
The District 6 champion Hilltoppers (20-3) scored three of their four runs with two outs against the District 7 third-place Wolverines (11-7). A complete-game win from pitcher Abby Rozich complemented that clutch hitting. The sophomore right-hander gave up four hits and issued one walk, while striking out six.
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PHOTO GALLERY | Westmont Hilltop bests Ellwood City 4-2 to advance to PIAA softball quarterfinals
"Our girls have become battle-tested and are always in the game," said Westmont Hilltop coach Dave Lynch, whose squad advances to the quarterfinals Thursday against District 7 champ South Park. "We just play great as a unit."
Westmont Hilltop, which earned its 12th straight victory, got on the board first with a pair of runs in the bottom of the second inning. Addy Dunbar and Liz Veranese drew consecutive one-out walks, and when the Wolverines were unable to make a play on Cali Lynch's subsequent sacrifice bunt attempt, that left the bases loaded.
Ellwood City pitcher Amber McQuistion appeared on her way to working out of the jam when she struck out the next batter, but freshman Audra Rudolph came up big out of the nine-spot in the batting order when she blooped a single to right to bring in Dunbar and Veranese.
The Wolverines answered in the top of the fourth. With one out, Ellwood City's first hit of the game came when McQuistion hammered a solo home run to left field. One out later, back-to-back doubles by Kiley LeViere and Kaylee Palombi knotted the contest at 2-all.
"They (Ellwood City) regained momentum with that home run and a couple of other hard-hit balls in that inning," Coach Lynch said, "but our girls settled down, took a deep breath and were able to get it back."
Ellwood City threatened to take the lead in the top of the fifth when Jadyn Allwine led off with an infield single and advanced to second on a throwing error on the play. However, Rozich worked out of trouble by retiring the next three batters on a pair of strikeouts and a groundout.
"They (Westmont Hilltop) capitalized on their opportunities, and we just didn't take advantage of ours," Wolverines coach Gary Rozanski said. "When you have a runner on second with nobody out in a tie game, you have to find a way to get them over and bring them in, that's just Softball 101."
The Hilltoppers regained the lead in the bottom of the frame when Rozich's one-out double was followed by a run-scoring double from sophomore third baseman Sarah Gibbons.
"I was just trying to make contact and put it in play," Gibbons said. "I knew there was pressure in a game like this, but I knew my teammates had my back."
Westmont Hilltop added an insurance run in the sixth. LaMya Stephens singled with two outs and was replaced by pinch-runner Kylie Sweeney. Rudolph followed with a looping single to right field that moved Sweeney to third. When Rudolph was caught in a rundown on the play, Sweeney scored as Rudolph ended up safe at second to make it 4-2.
Gibbons, Rudolph and Stephens each had two of Westmont Hilltop's eight hits.
The Wolverines were unable to answer as Rozich retired nine of the final 10 batters she faced.
"I just had to trust my defense and make sure I didn't get the ball up in the strike zone," Rozich said. "Curveballs and anything with a lot of movement was working for me today."