Time for the Warriors to finish their story

EF will face Blue Mountain for the Class 4A state championship today at 1:30 p.m.

The Elizabeth Forward softball team is past the point they reached last season, and now it’s time for this group of Warriors to finish their story.

Elizabeth Forward (23-1) will face off against Blue Mountain (26-1) today at 1:30 p.m. in the PIAA Class 4A championship game at Penn State’s Beard Field at Nittany Lion Softball Park.

The Warriors were last in the championship game in 2019 when they lost a 3-2 decision to West Perry.

“I think the difference between the two teams is we have more hitters top to bottom in this lineup,” Warriors head coach Harry Rutherford said. “We’re not relying on one or two hitters in our lineup. These girls pick each other up. It helps when Julia and Shelby start things off for us because that’s contagious, but we’ve had opportunities with other spots in our lineup and they’ve come through for us all season.”

The Warriors are led by Telegdy in the circle and at the plate. She’s fanned 190 batters this season and sports a 0.40 ERA.

In the batter’s box, Telegdy is raking at a .577 average with a team-high seven home runs and 36 RBIs. Resnik is hitting .543 with 38 hits, five HRs, six doubles, six triples and 27 RBIs. She’s scored 43 runs, nearly twice as many as the next player.

“They start a lot of things for us, and like I said, when they get started it flows through our lineup,” Rutherford said.

Addy Nigut boosted her average over .500 and has 21 RBIs out of the cleanup spot. Carlee Soukup is hitting .456 and Julia Johnson is up to .400.

“Since she had the big swing against Big Spring, Julia has gone 3 for 3 and 3 for 4 in our last two games,” Rutherford said. “She’s hitting the ball hard and pumping it up. Aubry Cimba is hitting hard shots and Hannah Evans is great at turning the order over.

“I really think we’re solid one through nine, top to bottom.”

When it comes to the District 11 champion Eagles, there are a lot of similarities with the Warriors.

“I think they’re good one through nine, too,” Rutherford said. “They are really similar to us when it comes to the stats.

“Everything starts with their pitcher (Marla) Freiwald. She’s great in the circle and she has a ton of power. I think she’s been intentionally walked her last six or seven at-bats.”

Freiwald is hitting .591 on the season with 39 hits, including eight home runs and 45 RBIs. In the circle, she’s 16-1 on the season with a 0.90 ERA and 165 strikeouts.

“She’s a power pitcher with some good speed,” Rutherford said of the senior hurler. “I don’t think there’s a ton of movement there. With the speed, she has a good changeup.”

Senior first baseman Olivia Labe is hitting .526 with 35 RBIs this season while senior Madison Heim his hitting .452 with a team-high 42 hits.

Sophomore second baseman is hitting .462 and freshman Addyson Fishburn is hitting .453.

“They’re going to be a challenge, so we’re going to be very careful on what we give them to swing at,” Rutherford said.

As far as keys to victory, it’s simple, the longtime coach said.

“Keep the ball in the ballpark, play great defense and get those timely hits,” Rutherford said. “I know it sounds simple, but I can’t go out there and execute the game plan. They have to do that.”

Rutherford said he doesn’t expect a slugfest. He thinks the senior pitchers are going to be the story.

“Both pitchers are pretty good. Theirs has been there, they are the defending champion so she’s been here before. Shelby’s been in big games all season and I think she’s going to do just fine,” he said. “I don’t know much about their defense, but I know ours is going to keep us in the game.”

A tough WPIAL slate and non-section games have prepared the Warriors to seize their moment, now it’s time to play ball.

“We’ve seen some decent teams. Avonworth was a defending state champ, we played a 7A team in Florida. TJ, who just won their state title game, we beat them in a close game. Hempfield and Ligonier Valley, they’re playoff teams,” Rutherford said. “All those games contributed to our success. It wasn’t like we blew through those games. We played some close ones.

“Now we just have to go out there and play, we’ll play well I’m sure and we’ll see what happens.”