Hometown Softball Recap – Belle Vernon Leopards – 05/04/2017

By: HSSN Staff
Thursday, May 4, 2017 | 11:33 PM

In a rare outcome of top teams in a Class 4-A vs Class 6-A, the Belle Vernon Leopards emerged victorious in a classic pitchers’ duel as Bailey Parshall bested Canon-Mac Abi Michelucci.  The Leopards jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the 1st Lexie Church reached on a fielding error.  She moved to 2nd on a wild pitch, and then Parshall drove her home with a single.  Parshall then scored after hits by the Sokol sisters, Makenzie and Alex, but on Alex’s base hit, Makenzie was thrown out in a rundown for the 3rd out.

Parshall was in cruise control as she retired the first 12 batters she faced.  She struck out 9 of those batters in the first 4 innings.

The Big Macs broke through, however, in the top of the 5th as Kayla Bruce singled to right to break up the perfect game. Brittney Crawford followed with a double to move Bruce to 3rd.  Bruce then scored on an attempted fielders choice as she beat the flip to the plate by Parshall.  The umpire ruled that Bruce reached home plate before Hanna Legazza could apply the tag, and thus BV’s lead was cut to 2-1.

Parshall struck out the side in both the 6th and 7th innings, but the Big Macs threatened to score again in the 7th as Crawford and Julie Ciotti reached on a base hit and an error respectively.  Parshall struck out both Ashley Buggey and Makenzie Hollis to end the game.

Parshall came into the game with 164 strikeouts on the season.  She added 13 to that total in this one.  The Leopards are now 14-1 and will play their final regular season game Tuesday against the only team to defeat them in 2017, the defending PIAA State Champion Yough Cougars.