Elizabeth Forward shuts out Knoch in WPIAL Class 4A semifinals

By: George Guido
Wednesday, May 22, 2019 | 7:51 PM

After coming up short twice with runners in scoring position, Elizabeth Forward’s leading hitter, Bri Sersevic, was looking for a breakthrough hit.

Sersevic delivered a sharp single to left to score two runs in the bottom of the sixth inning. Brooke Marklund followed with another two-run single as the Warriors defeated Knoch, 4-0, in a WPIAL Class 4A semifinal at Gateway High School.

The rally sent Elizabeth Forward to the WPIAL title game, where the Warriors will face Mt. Pleasant on Wednesday or Thursday at Peterswood Park.

“I just tried to stay with my routine,” said Sersevic, who came into Wednesday’s game with a .445 batting average.

Knoch (17-2) will play Thomas Jefferson in the consolation game Tuesday at a time and site to be determined. The winner of that game will enter the PIAA tournament, which begins June 3.

The breakthrough sixth started with a fine play by Knoch third baseman Bailey Rickenbrode on a bunt by Anna Resnik.

The first base umpire called Resnik out. But Warriors coach Harry Rutherford confidently walked over from the third base coach’s box and requested the umpire ask for help. The home plate umpire ruled Resnik safe because Knoch first baseman Erin Luffy’s foot came off the bag.

“At least what I thought was her foot wasn’t on the base,” Rutherford said. “Everyone in the dugout saw it, too. They were screaming at me to go there. I figured I’d ask to see if I could get an appeal from the home plate umpire.”

Jordan Pinneri followed with a bunt single, and Resnik and Pinneri executed a double steal to put runners on second and third with none out.

Rickenbrode grabbed Taylor Ludwick’s grounder and caught Resnik off third, but her throw to first for a double play attempt went awry, allowing Pinneri to take third.

A steal of second by Ludwick preceded Sersevic’s clutch single.

An error and a bunt put two more runners in scoring position for Markland’s big single to make it 4-0.

“I’m going to do small ball whenever I have the opportunity,” Rutherford said. “We bunt, put it in play, and good things happen.”

Knoch had several opportunities to score.

With runners on second and third with one out in the first, Warriors pitcher Kelly Larcinese retired Erin Luffy on a pop foul to first then struck out Amanda Fischer for the third out.

It looked like Knoch was again about to score in the fourth. With runners at first and third, Liv Vissari hit a drive toward center that Ludwick, a Colgate recruit, made an over-the-shoulder catch on.

Two more were left on base in the fifth.

“We had people on in almost every inning,” Knights coach Gary Coe said. “That’s the name of the game. You got to get people on base, then you have to score them.”

Fischer pitched out of several jams to keep the game scoreless for the first five innings

Ludwick tripled in the fourth, ending Fischer’s streak of 10 consecutive batters retired.

A grounder with the infield up and a strikeout kept the Waarriors off the scoreboard.

In the fifth, Fischer left Markland stranded at third.

Coe plans to give the Knights several days off over the holiday weekend before getting ready for Tuesday’s game.

Tags: Elizabeth Forward, Knoch