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Forestville downs Ellicottville, 2-1, in quarterfinals

FORESTVILLE — The second seeded Forestville Hornets needed nine innings, but eventually scored a run in the bottom of the ninth to knock out the Ellicottville Eagles, the seventh seed, on Monday night in a Class D softball quarterfinal battle. The pitchers were effective and the quality of defense was perfect to limit the opportunities that the offense may have had.

“We knew that it would be a challenge today,” said Ellicottville coach Matt Finn. “Forestville is a great team. They have a good pitcher and are solid behind her. We helped her out a few too many times by chasing pitches out of the strike zone. However, I am very proud of how the girls played.”

In the early innings, an occasional runner was on for both teams but strong defense got the runners out on the bases. Forestville had a runner thrown out trying to steal second and Ellicottville’s middle of the infield, Evelyn Cortez and Makenna Smith, turned a perfect double play. Forestville catcher Alison Mierzwa threw out two Ellicottville runners trying to steal including a runner at third.

Ellicottville struck first with a run in the top of the fourth. Sarah Sheffield led off with a single where Evelyn Cortez followed with a sacrifice to move Sheffield into scoring position. Allison Przywara would come through with an RBI single that was hit in over the outfielder’s head in right center field to score Sheffield. Phoebe Kingsfield made the defensive play of the day as she hustled after the ball and threw a perfect strike to second base to throw out Przywara. That would be the last Ellicottville base runner that went on base as Forestville pitcher Brooke Ostrye would settle in and retire the last 16 batters of the game.

Through the first five innings, Ellicottville pitcher Allison Przywara faced the minimum number of batters and also had a no hitter going. The only two Hornet runners at that time were both picked off the bases.

In the sixth inning, the bottom of Forestville’s lineup was finally able to adjust and had deep hits. Lillee Gould had a triple that was hit down the left field line past the left fielder. Ellicottville left fielder Halie Mowery did a great job of retrieving the ball to prevent a home run. Cece Egan would follow that with an RBI double that would tie the game.

“We have a solid lineup that we bring to the plate,” said Forestville coach Brianne Hazelton. “These girls have constantly been getting hits all year long. With their plate approaches, it is difficult to tell where they are in the order.” At that time, Ellicottville turned to Evelyn Cortez to pitch and she recorded three consecutive outs to end the rally.

Forestville’s bats finally got to work after that inning as they had a legitimate threat to score in the seventh and eighth innings. In the seventh, Mierzwa had a single and made it to third with one out, but Cortez received two consecutive grounders to the mound to get out of the jam. In the eighth, Egan would be stranded on second.

The Hornets would keep that momentum going and finally put together a few good consecutive at bats to get the game winning run. Caroline Kaichner led off with a hard hit ball to center field that just bounced off the center fielder’s glove. Clare Kingsfield followed and had two unsuccessful bunt attempts and with two strikes, belted the ball to center field. On the play, Hazelton was aggressive and sent Kaichner to third, where Kingsfield would also advance to second on the throw.

“Caroline did a great job to get on,” Hazelton stated. “She does it all and found a way to get on for the third time. She was going because she is very quick and I knew it would take a perfect throw from the outfield to get her out at third.”

Mierzwa would then put the ball down the right field line for the walk off hit to score Kaichner.

“Alison is a hard worker and is dedicated to the game,” Hazelton added. “She has improved her game all around through the years and really deserves the hit that moment.”

Brooke Ostrye pitched nine innings giving up one hit from four hits, no walks and one hit batter. She also recorded eight strikeouts.

According to Hazleton, “I looked at Brooke as the game was going to extra innings and she said that she was good and wanted to stay in the game. I could tell from her eyes that she was focused and wanted it as she was locked in towards the end of the game.”

Ellicottville starting pitcher Allison Przywawa gave up one run on two hits and two walks in five innings while striking out one. Evelyn Cortez pitched three innings in relief, giving up one run from four hits. She did not walk anybody and also struck out one.

“Allison did great for us as she has been at a new level the past three games,” said Finn. “She did everything that we asked from her and kept us in the game. Evelyn has pitched only three times this year and was very effective at throwing strikes.”

Mierzwa and Gould each led the Hornets with two hits where Gould also had a triple. Egan also recorded a double while Clare Kingsfield added a single.

Ellicottville had four singles, which were from Sheffield, Przywawa, Cam Earley, and Ashley Laudiso.

“It was a great game played by both teams,” said Hazelton. “Both teams had multiple times where there were three up and three down. Their starter kept us off balance and their shortstop (Cortez) made some tremendous plays getting to those balls hit her way as we could not get on like we have been. We had a hard time adjusting to the off speed pitches, but we eventually made adjustments and did better with the bats as the game went on.”

Forestville will host North Collins on Thursday in a Class D semifinal game.

“North Collins is a tough team from top to bottom,” said Hazelton. “We played them earlier in the year and we had a hard time hitting their pitcher. They also field and hit well so it will be a tough challenge.”

Ellicottville graduates eight seniors this year. “I would like to thank all the seniors,” Finn stated. “They have been committed. They have battled all year and I couldn’t have been more proud of what they have accomplished in their high school careers.”

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