Parshall tosses no-hitter, strikes out 16 as Belle Vernon softball blanks Ambridge
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Monday, May 21, 2018 | 8:03 PM
Excuse one of the top pitchers in the district if she had no idea of how good she was doing Monday afternoon at Baldwin.
“I had no idea I threw a no-hitter until after the game,” Belle Vernon's Bailey Parshall said. “I really had no idea.”
Neither did Ambridge.
The Penn State recruit allowed no runs, no hits, one walk and struck out 16 in a dominating performance as the Leopards cruised to the WPIAL semifinals for a third time in four years with a 3-0 whitewash of the Bridgers.
Only five balls were put in play by the Ambridge lineup. The closest the Bridgers got to a hit was a line drive to right field in the first hitting by Kim Kuzma that was speared by the outreached glove of Casey Weightman.
“I can't ask for anything more,” Parshall said. “Casey is a freshman coming in off the bench and hasn't played a lot, but came in at the start of the playoffs and has done a really good job so far.”
Weightman also started things offensively in the third when she delivered the game's first hit with a one-out single. She then scored on an RBI double by Jordan French. French scored on a throwing error by Ambridge third baseman Allie Garrison, giving the Leopards a 2-0 lead.
Belle Vernon added another unearned run in the fourth when courtesy runner Madison Monack, running for Alex Sokol who had singled, scored when Vanessa Porter reached on an error by Bridgers first baseman Syd Hopkins.
Ambridge (9-5) ended its season with a strong performance in the circle by freshman pitcher Ashley DeWeese, who gave up one earned run and four hits.
Belle Vernon (18-3) will be in action Wednesday in a semifinals game against defending PIAA champion Mt. Pleasant. The Leopards beat the Vikings, 1-0, in a WPIAL semifinals game a year ago.
“Bailey has been great,” Belle Vernon coach Tom Rodriguez said, “but for us to win the rest of the way, we have to do better than four hits on offense, and we have to be ready on defense.”
Parshall's 16 strikeouts give her a career-high 261 for the season and raise her career total to 934.
Besides winning a third WPIAL title in four years, Parshall said she is driven to pitch in one game.
“It has always been a dream of mine to pitch on Beard Field (at Penn State, home of the PIAA softball finals) as a Leopard.”
Don Rebel is a TribLive High School Sports Network broadcaster and staff writer. Reach him at drebel@tribweb.com.
Tags: Ambridge, Belle Vernon
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