4-run 7th Helps Belle Vernon Stun Yough 5-4 for AAA Gold

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, May 28, 2015 | 9:04 PM

The Belle Vernon Leopards had one out in the bottom of the seventh of the Class AAA championship game with no runners on base and trailed 4-1. Five batters later the Leopards had a 5-4 victory after a two-run single by Emily Frederick capped a four-run rally to give Belle Vernon (20-2) its 17th straight win and its first WPIAL championship since 2007. 

“This is so unreal,” Frederick said after the game seemingly trying to grasp what just transpired at California University of Pennsylvania’s Lilley Field .

Belle Vernon actually didn’t have a hit through the first five innings as Yough pitcher Macy Mularski held the Leopards in check, only allowing four walks in the first five frames.

The Cougars scored first on a solo home run by Alona Sleith in the second inning. The lead grew to 2-0 in the fourth when Olivia Miller doubled home Cassidy Pearce, who walked.

The Cougars (17-4) tallied two more runs in the sixth inning. Walks plagued Belle Vernon freshman Pitcher Bailey Parshall in the inning as they had all game. She walked three in the inning, a free pass coming to Miller with the bases loaded. They were three of Parshall’s nine walks in the game, to go with 10 strikeouts. She threw 153 pitches against a Yough offense that battled her with a number of patient at bats

Another Yough run came home in the sixth on a passed ball. 

Belle Vernon finally got on the board in the bottom of the sixth with its first three hits of the game. A single by Sarah Simsic plated Kaitlyn Faiola, who broke up Mularski’s no-hitter with a single that led off the inning.

That set the stage for the seventh-inning heroics.

With one out Megan Christner singled. Faiola followed with an infield hit. When Parshall reached on an error, a run scored to cut the Yough lead to 4-2. A single by Nicole Ashcroft made the score 4-3, then Frederick’s single to right center gave Belle Vernon the 5-4 victory.

Mularski’s pitching performance featured five walks and five strikeouts in a game in which she threw 129 pitches.

Both teams now will participate in the PIAA playoffs joining Trinity as the Class AAA WPIAL representatives.

Scoring Summary:

Yough Cougars : 0 – 1 – 0 – 1 – 0 – 2 – 0  = 4
Belle Vernon Leopards : 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 0 – 1 – 4  = 5

Tags: Belle Vernon, Hempfield