Ellwood City uses big fifth inning to down Beaver Falls in first round of WPIAL playoffs

HARMONY — The WPIAL Class 3A softball playoffs kicked off on Tuesday with first-round action and featured the two lone Beaver Valley teams in the bracket, as Ellwood City and Beaver Falls squared off at Seneca Valley High School.

After the bats were stagnant for most of the game, Ellwood City struck for four runs in the bottom of the fifth. That proved to be the difference in the game, as the No. 4-seed Wolverines pulled away in a 6-2 win over the No. 13-seed Tigers.

Ellwood City head coach Gary Rozanski knows no wins are easy to come by in the postseason, so he didn't take for granted the fact that his team had punched its ticket to Round 2.

"It is something we always expect this time of year," Rozanski said. "We played a quality opponent again, and it doesn’t matter in the playoffs because they come in excited. We broke it open in the fifth, and we had some opportunities. It's playoff time so all the wins are great."

Beaver Falls threatened in the top half of the first with runners on the corners after an error by Sara Schwarz, but the Tigers could not cash in, stranding two runners on base.

In the bottom half of the first, the Wolverines got the bats going quickly as Kyla Servick poked a ball into right field which was misplayed by the right fielder, tipping off the player's glove and allowing her to score on the error.

Ellwood City legged out two infield singles with one out in the inning but could not extend its one-run lead.

After an eventful first inning, both pitchers settled in nicely. The Wolverines' Julia Nardone and the Tigers' Legzdin continued to dual it out as the game progressed, each matching the other pitch for pitch, putting up multiple frames.

After Ellwood City's bats were shut down for most of the game, it finally cracked the hit column in the fifth for the first time since the first inning. Angie Nardone led off the inning with a single. Servick followed that up by working a walk to put two runners on and nobody out.

With runners at the corners and one out, Mollie Street laid down the suicide squeeze and Servick scored on the play to give the Wolverines a two-run advantage.

Rozanski reflected on his team's slow day with the bats after the contest.

"(Legzdin) threw well out there today." Rozanski said. "We have faced her a number of times the past couple of years. I don’t like putting the ball too much in the air, especially on a day like today with the wind. And we stressed putting the ball on the ground and hitting line drives, but we popped it up a lot today."

Julia Nardone followed that up by helping her own cause, smacking a line drive down the right field line. That ball allowed her to circle the bases on an inside-the-park home run to stretch the lead to five.

Rozanski spoke highly of Nardone’s ability to get it done on both sides of the ball.

"She was able to throw strikes, and we made the plays," he said. "She had no walks today, which is great. And their first five batters came up swinging, and we were able to keep them off base and out of scoring position and to help her cause and get that hit. That was when they relaxed and we started to play our game."

But Beaver Falls would not go down without a fight. It strung together two hits in the sixth with a lead-off single followed by a double. Legzdin pulled off a suicide squeeze of her own and scored a run to cut the lead to four. Zhekiyah Reddick followed that up with an RBI groundout to trim the lead to three.

Ellwood City got one of those runs back a half inning later, as Street hit a sacrifice fly to center field and then finished the job in the top half of the seventh inning to put the Tigers away for good.

Overall, Nardone pitched a complete game, allowing two runs — none were earned — on two hits, while striking out seven.

For Beaver Falls, Legzdin pitched 4.1 innings, allowing five runs — four earned — on four hits, two walks, two hit batters, while striking out five.

Ellwood City moves on to Round 2 of the WPIAL Class 3A playoffs and will face Southmoreland on Thursday at a time and location to be determined.