Forestville head coach Brianne Hazelton hugs senior pitcher Megan Gruber after the team’s state semifinal game in Binghamton. OBSERVER File Photo by Matt Spielman

In the history of Forestville Central School, there had never been a girls sports team to reach the New York State Public High School Athletic Association final four. There were close misses in the past and the softball team had even reached the Far West Regionals, but could not get over that hump.

Armed with one of the best pitchers in the section and a young lineup that showed it was ready to play, Brianne Hazelton’s Hornets put plenty of teams on notice that they meant business in Chautauqua-Cattaraugus Athletic Association Division 3 and Class D.

Forestville began the season with a lot of hot bats, posting wins against Cattaraugus-Little Valley 11-5 and then reigning Section VI Class C champion Westfield 7-6 and 10-4.

A nice showing in nonleague games prepared the Hornets for a difficult divisional run and they were up to the task in the first league contest by easily dispatching Pine Valley 14-2 and then holding off Randolph 5-4.

The Hornets continued their hot start, jumping to an 8-0 record with wins over Gowanda 7-3 and Randolph again 9-3, before losing on a walk-off to Silver Creek 4-3.

Hazelton’s Hornets got right back up after that with a dominant 9-1 victory over Silver Creek on the following day. Parity in the division allowed for one more loss and still earned Forestville its first league championship since 2013 with the deciding game a 2-0 victory against Brocton in which pitcher Megan Gruber recorded her 500th career strikeout.

Winning the league championship earned Hazelton Coach of the Year honors and Gruber was named the league’s top pitcher.

Claiming the league championship was just the start of good things to come for Forestville.

Earning the 2-seed in the Section VI Class D playoffs, Forestville received a bye into the semifinals and hosted No. 3 Clymer/Sherman in what was a very close pitcher’s duel. Gruber was pitted against the CCAA Division 2 Pitcher of the Year, Elli Bodamer, and she did not falter.

Receiving just one earned run in the bottom of the fifth, Gruber managed to keep the Wolves away from scoring position in every inning except the second and seventh when she escaped from jams.

The narrow 2-0 victory put the Hornets in the sectional final for the first time since 2013 and provided the opportunity to win it for the first time since 2012.

However, what was in the way was the defending champion Ellicottville Eagles with a potent offense and another strong pitcher.

Forestville set the tone early with the Eagles, coming close to scoring in the first inning and Gruber mowing through the lineup with ease the first time and carrying a no-hitter into the fourth.

The senior pitcher was on a mission to finish her career with a sectional title, limiting the Eagles to just two hits on the day with them coming from Ande Northrup and Courtney Marsh at the top of the lineup. Battling through the rain and even a loud train going by the field in Olean, Gruber would not let the Eagles score.

That was great, but she needed run support to end the school’s sectional title drought and Hazelton’s underclassmen became the unlikely heroes of the playoff run.

Following freshman Emily Lillie’s game-winning RBI triple in the semifinals, sophomore Kaylee Adamczak got the Hornets on base in the fifth inning when she drew a walk and eighth-grader Ava Schwerk came in to pinch run. Schwerk did not wait long on the bases before freshman Alexandra Kerstetter hammered an RBI double which became the deciding run in the contest. Then in the following inning, Lillie hit another playoff triple and scored on an error as Forestville won its first sectional title since 2012.

The last time Section VI had defeated Section V in the Class D Far West Regionals was 2018 and in Forestville’s matchup it was up against the state’s top ranked team, Fillmore.

In the regionals, Forestville showed it was ready to play when junior Carilene Sliwa began the bottom of the first with a leadoff home run and seized the 1-0 lead.

Unlike the previous matchups, Fillmore’s offense did not intend to go quietly.

Gruber surrendered a home run of her own and errors in the field allowed Fillmore to grab a 2-1 lead. For many it looked like Fillmore would hold onto that lead, but not Hazelton’s crew.

Working some two-out magic in the bottom of the fifth inning, Lillie’s hard grounder to third resulted in an error and Gruber moved her along with an infield single, setting the table for freshman Olivia Valentine.

Valentine knocked a 2 RBI single into right field and Adamczak hit her home to give Gruber a comfortable 5-2 lead.

Working with newfound confidence after plating four runs in the fifth, Gruber and Hornets set down the final six Eagles in order to clinch the school’s first berth into a girls state final four.

Forestville’s first trip to states ended on the first day in a 5-1 loss to eventual state champion Hamilton of Section III, but still goes down as the best girls sports season in Forestville school history.

On top of team success, Gruber was named first-team all-state in Class D and Sliwa earned recognition on the third-team. Gruber, Sliwa and senior catcher Jade Work were named first-team all-stars in CCAA D3, while Lillie and Madison Christian were second-team and both Valentine and Elizabeth Case earned honorable mentions.

For all of these reasons Brianne Hazelton is the 2025 OBSERVER/Post-Journal Post-Journal/OBSERVER Coach of the Year.