Blackhawk gets upset win, ends Leps’ season

By LIAM BELAN

lbelan@yourmvi.com

In what was a tumultuous season for the Belle Vernon softball team, it still managed to put together a 13-6 record and grab a No. 6 seed in the WPIAL Class 4A playoffs against No. 11 Blackhawk.

The Leopards (13-7) saw their year come to an end Monday at Peterswood Park in a 7-5 setback against the Cougars (10-7).

The matchup featured two programs in different positions. Belle Vernon was the defending district champion but dealt with injuries to college softball players in pitcher Talia Ross and shortstop Ava Zubovic this season. On the other side, Blackhawk was searching for its first postseason win in 15 years with a relatively young squad.

In the end, 12-year head coach Jim Riggio finally got his wish of a playoff win as his Cougars will move on to play No. 3 Indiana, who earned a first-round bye, on Wednesday. He said he hasn’t even thought that far yet.

“I don’t even know who we play to be honest with you,” an elated Riggio said. “We just played it one at-bat at a time today. That’s the defending WPIAL champ we just beat. I know they’re down, and they had a couple of girls out for the season which is a shame, but this is a big win for our program. It’s a little emotional for me and for all of us.”

The loss ended the impressive high-school careers of Ross, Ava Zubovic, Gracie Sokol, Cassidy Triggiani and Paula Vukelja.

“Missing Talia and Ava was a huge loss for us,” Belle Vernon head coach Tom Rodriguez said. “But I told everyone that I was proud of them for all that they’ve done for us. We’ve just got to focus on coming back next year. We’ve just got to keep working hard.”

Over the course of a back-and-forth seven inning affair, Rodriguez thought that it was the little things that did his team in. An unfortunate error in the top of the third from shortstop Mailey Hayes allowed two runs to score and open the scoring.

“In the playoffs, you have to play great defense and you have to hit,” Rodriguez said. “We had a few errors that made it get away from us, but hitting and fielding, just small things here and there. You can’t have an error like that in this type of game, but it happens. She’s in ninth grade and I’m sure she was nervous. She played very well for us this year, so we can’t be mad at her.”

Blackhawk had threatened to open the scoring in the first, but Belle Vernon managed to escape unscathed. 

Brynn Hysong, Keira Rodu and Mia Yenges loaded the bases with two outs, but Belle Vernon’s Maddie Grisnik forced Karma Malcolm into a pop out to strand three runners. Grisnik went 5 1/3 innings, allowing seven runs and 10 hits as she was tagged with the loss.

Blackhawk’s Peyton Kimberling started off strong on the mound, not allowing a BVA base runner until the third on an error. The Cougars stranded another runner in the top of the second before they made it 2-0 in the third.

Kylie Prisuta opened the inning by getting plunked and moved over to third as Rodu and Zoey Lindner put up two outs for Blackhawk. Yenges then drew a walk and stole second to put runners at second and third with two outs before Malcolm popped a ball high into the infield that kept tailing away from Hayes. As the ball rattled off her glove, Prisuta and Yenges were crossing home plate to make it 2-0. Grisnik forced a fly out to end the inning from there.

After a scoreless third, Blackhawk scored three more runs in the fourth frame, again finding success with two outs.

The Cougars had Morgan Alexander at second with two down when Prisuta singled to bring her home. Rodu then singled to put runners on first and second before Lindner scored Prisuta and Rodu with a double to the right field fence to make it 5-0 before the Leopards managed the third out.

Belle Vernon started to figure out Kimberling in the bottom of the fourth as it managed to open its account with two runs.

Katie Sokol was on third and Lauren VanDivner was at first when Bella Williams gave the Leopards some two-out offense of their own with a long fly ball to left field that scored both runners.

That 5-2 scoreline didn’t last a batter, though, as Malcolm led the top of the fifth off with a solo shot to center field to give the Cougars a 6-2 advantage.

The Leopards went down 1-2-3 in the fifth before Blackhawk finished its scoring in the sixth as the top of the lineup continued to excel. Prisuta was able to score on an RBI single from Linder that ended Grisnik’s day before Lily Crawford took over for 1 2/3 innings. Crawford forced two pop outs to move things to the bottom of the sixth.

Katie and Gracie Sokol reached base on a single and a walk, respectively, to set up a huge at-bat for VanDivner. The junior proceeded to blast a long ball to left field and suddenly make the score 7-5. However, that was where the scoring ended as neither team managed another hit.

Moving forward, Rodriguez is looking to get back to work with his squad after a tough loss.

“Hopefully we’ll be back next year,” he said. “We’re losing some good players, but we have some young players stepping up, so hopefully we can figure it out.”