Leps down Rams on Sokol’s walkoff

By JEREMY SELLEW
jsellew@yourmvi.com

It’s been a heck of a couple days for Belle Vernon Area’s Gracie Sokol.
The Leopards’ first baseman hit her first career home run Tuesday in BVA’s win over Frazier.
On Wednesday, the freshman made another memory with her first career walk-off hit to give the Leopards a thrilling 6-5 win over rival Ringgold in Section 2-4A action at Tom Rodriguez Field in Washington Township.
“Gracie is really starting to come into her own out there,” BVA head coach Tom Rodriguez said. “She had a big moment yesterday and now had another one today. That was a great hit she had there to win the game.”
The mind-blowing stat of the game was the Leopards stranded 15 runners on base, including leaving the bases loaded on multiple occasions. It’s a quirky stat that Rodriguez has experienced before.
“Believe it or not, it’s happened before,” Rodriguez said when asked if his team ever won a game stranding that many runners. “In the 2007 WPIAL championship game. We left 15 girls on base in that game and won. It’s not something that happens often, though.”
For the Rams (0-6, 0-4), it’s the first game of the season that lasted more than three innings.
“We’ve played five games through COVID protocols and this is the first time I’ve had my whole varsity lineup,” Ringgold coach Gregg Adams said. “This is a game we should have won. As a young team like we are, you have to learn how to win these kinds of games.”
The Rams put themselves in a position to win the game with a four-run sixth inning that gave them a 5-2 lead.
Peyton LaFlash started the rally off by reaching on an error by BVA third baseman Vanessa Porter with one out in the frame. Amy Peterson followed with a single to left to put runners on first and second before Olivia Vecchio hammered an RBI single to tie the game.
With runners on first and second, Porter fielded a ground ball and flipped to Ashley Joll covering third for a force out.
The Leopards (5-3, 2-1) looked like they were going to get out of the inning when Taylor Pelissero hit a ball back to pitcher Sophia Godzak, but second baseman Abby Fabin couldn’t handle Godzak’s throw and the error loaded the bases.
Ashlee Selembo followed with a triple to right field to clear the bases and give the Rams a 5-2 lead.
“Ashlee played a great game for us,” Adams said. “That was a big hit there when we needed it. The girls were able to get the clutch hits when we needed them the most.”
The Leopards were able to get one back in the bottom half of the inning when Fabin drew a bases-loaded walk against Ringgold reliever Cassidy Kunkel.
Talia Ross took over in the circle for the Leps and sat the Rams down in order in the top half of the seventh to set the stage for her team’s comeback. Her quick inning of work allowed her to be the winning pitcher.
“We were planning on only having Sophie in there for about 60 pitches. Maybe I left her in a little too long,” Rodriguez said. “She pitched well until that last inning, I think she got a little tired.”
The start was Godzak’s first of the season after battling a lower-body injury.
Karlie Russell got the start for the Rams and was replaced by Dani Vecchio in the second inning. Adams replaced Vecchio with Ali Bianchi in the sixth, then turned to Kunkel after Bianchi threw a third of an inning.
Dani Vecchio returned to the circle for the seventh and allowed a hard-hit single to Porter to start things off.
Leopards lead-off hitter Maren Metikosh followed and grounded into a fielder’s choice as the Rams got a 4-6 force out of Porter’s pinch runner Kenzi Seliga.
After the fielder’s choice, Lexi Daniels reached on an error at short by Olivia Vecchio. The ground ball carumed into the outfield and it allowed Metikosh to reach third and Daniels to pull into second with the tying run.
“Those were big plays we didn’t make. We tried out a new shortstop today and she failed. That’s a position we’re going to continue to address,” Adams said. “The first one, she turned to get the force there and we needed to try to turn the double play. Then we missed that ground ball. For the most part, we made the routines when we needed to, but we didn’t in that last inning.”
After Ashley Joll popped out for the second out of the inning, Godzak stepped in and promptly delivered a two-run single to tie the game with a hard-hit ball up the middle.
“The only thing we can’t do in that situation is throw the ball right across the middle of the plate,” Adams said dejectedly. “There’s not one pitch call we have that calls a pitch right down the middle.
“I actually thought about walking her there. Maybe we should have. But I know we couldn’t put one right down the middle.”
“I was a little frustrated because I just missed and I was a little under the ball on the at-bat before that one,” Godzak said. “I was a little surprised of where it was. It was right there and I just wanted to make sure I hit it hard and on the ground.”
LaFlash’s throw to the plate allowed Godzak to move up to second on the play as the potential game-winning run.
Rodriguez substituted Melayna Morgan to run for Godzak and the move paid off as she was able to score the winning run when Sokol sent a hard grounder into the left-field grass.
Daniels, Sokol and Zubovic each finished with a pair of hits for BVA, while Joll added a double.
“That’s a big win for us,” Rodriguez said. “We need to beat Ringgold, LH and Uniontown both times to get us into the playoffs. I’m glad we were able to come back and get this one.”