Warriors shut down by Blue Mountain

“Uncharacteristic” EF held to just five hits in a 4-0 loss to District 11 champion Eagles in state title game.

After an impressive season that was highlighted by a WPIAL championship and a strong appearance in the state playoffs, Elizabeth Forward came up just short in the PIAA Class 4A championship on Friday, losing 4-0 to Blue Mountain.

The Eagles (27-1) defended their District 11 title earlier in the season and capped off the year by defending their state trophy as well, coming off of a 3-2 victory over Montour in 2023.

The Warriors (23-2) made some uncharacteristic mistakes in the loss, including giving up the first run of the game via an error, but longtime coach Harry Rutherford said that his group should be proud of what it accomplished during this campaign.

“I think they did a good job,” he said. “You have an error early that gives them something … and I think that started them. We just hit too many fly balls. It’s a young team, and we had a good season this year. But the expectation is that we’ll be back here next year.”

Elizabeth Forward got offense from every batter in the lineup for the entirety of the year, but it just wasn’t present at Nittany Lion Softball Park.

Marla Freiwald held the Warriors to just five hits, and only one was hit with real force. Blue Mountain’s ace earned the win by forcing almost every batter to get under her offerings throughout the entire contest.

“My curveball was really working, and I thought that outside pitch was really beneficial,” Freiwald said. “I just felt good today and everything was working.”

It was the last game ever for her counterpart on the mound, Shelby Telegdy, who will depart the EF program as one of its best players ever, according to Rutherford.

“We have something new that we’re starting at the school; they’re going to honor alumni players and they asked me to submit recommendations for softball since I’ve been here forever and ever and ever,” the skipper said. “I came up with (Virginia softball player) Kristen Hawkins, … Kailey Larcinese, who brought us here in 2019, and I said I couldn’t nominate Shelby until we got a trophy. We won the WPIAL, we got back here, and her stats are better than Kailey’s. So, I will be nominating her for those awards.

“She’s been an inspiration for all the younger kids that we have come in for our camps. They all idolize her, and I can’t say enough about what she’s done for the program.”

Telegdy eclipsed the 500 career strikeout mark in Elizabeth Forward’s 8-0 state semifinal victory over Archbishop Wood, and she’ll be off to Seton Hill in the fall.

It was Telegdy who energized the Elizabeth Forward faithful with a strikeout to open the action, but Addyson Fishburn singled to center on the next at-bat and stole second to give the Warriors something to worry about.

Freiwald stepped up and hit a ball that couldn’t be corralled by Soukup, and the error quickly gave the Eagles a 1-0 lead as Fishburn raced home with the ball spinning back towards right field.

Telegdy recovered to strike out the side, and Resnik stepped up to the plate with her squad trailing by one early.

The sophomore hit a line drive that looked to be over the head of Fishburn at left, but she managed to make an athletic grab to prevent a leadoff hit for the Warriors.

EF ultimately went down 1-2-3 to turn things over to the second.

Telegdy fanned two more Eagles as she retired them in order in the top of the second before Freiwald returned the favor and did the exact same.

Fishburn picked up her second hit of the contest in the third as she slapped another close single, but she was the only player with a single hit at that point as both pitchers were locked in.

Telegdy tallied her sixth strikeout in the top of the fourth as she again prevented any baserunners, and she broke Freiwald’s no-hitter with one out in the home half of the fourth.

Her single put courtesy runner Samantha Malek, and another single from Carlee Soukup put runners on first and second.

Addyson Nigut got ahold of another offering, but she popped it out before Berlyn Holibaugh was called for the third out on batter interference. Still, it seemed that the Warriors might be catching up to Freiwald on the mound.

The Eagles opened up the fifth with a controversial double as Hailey Place hit a ball that Hannah Evans seemed to have made an incredible play on.

She ranged to right center and dove under the ball, but she couldn’t trap the ball in her glove and it started to spin out of her grasp. It looked like she used her free right hand to grab the ball and complete the catch, but it was deemed that the ball touched the ground before she palmed it. The play brought Rutherford out from the dugout, but to no avail.

The Warriors managed two outs after that, but a single from Madison Heim brought Place home and gave the Eagles a 2-0 advantage.

With one out in the bottom of the fifth, Alivia Grimm hit a single to left field and Aubri Cimba bunted her over to second, but Evans popped out to end the inning at 2-0.

Freiwald led off the sixth with her first hit of the day, but Elizabeth Forward got three straight outs highlighted by Grimm catching a bunt attempt that went foul.

That turned things over to Resnik to lead off the bottom of the sixth, and she launched a ball that fell right into the glove of center fielder Elle Walasavage. Telegdy popped out and Soukup singled for her second hit of the day, but Nigut also popped out to move the action to the seventh inning.

Lindsay Gibson led Blue Mountain off with a single before Courtney Cavadini drew a one-out walk. From there, nine-hitter Anna Borden crushed a double to score courtesy runner Carla Boyer and make it 3-0. Heim added to the Warriors’ troubles with an RBI single to bring Blue Mountain’s lead to 4-0.

The Eagles eventually loaded the bases with one out, Telegdy retired the next two batters with 12 pitches to turn things over to their final chance.

Holibaugh, Julia Johnson and Grimm were due up for the Warriors, and the freshman led things off with a bloop single into shallow right center.

Johnson moved Holibaugh to second as she accounted for the first out of the frame before Grimm popped one out to left field.

Cimba was now the last hope for Elizabeth Forward, but she popped out to short to end the contest.

The loss was undoubtedly difficult for the Warriors, but Rutherford believes that the best is yet to come for his squad.

“I told them that we’ll be back next year,” he said. “We have to replace Shelby, which will be difficult, but there’s enough hitters in the lineup and we’ve got pitchers in every grade that I’m confident in.”