Nichols tosses 2-hitter in Belle Vernon’s 2-0 victory
CALIFORNIA – Belle Vernon scored a run in the first inning, added an insurance run in the sixth and left the rest up to pitcher Ashley Nichols. The sophomore came through big time for the Lady Leps with a neat two-hit shutout win over the Lady Indians in a WPIAL Class AAA first-round softball game Monday at California University of Pa.’s Lilly Field.
“The main thing she did well was she pitched to the corners,” Belle Vernon coach Tom Rodriguez said. “She never throws down the middle of the plate. That way, if a girl is going to hit it, she’s going to have to go out and get it.”
Nichols controlled the game despite a relatively low three strikeouts. She made West Allegheny put the ball in play and let her defense do its job behind her.
Belle Vernon got all the runs Nichols would need in the bottom of the first inning, when Megan Caldwell singled to right field, moved up on a walk and stole third base. Heather Sellew drove her home with a one-out groundout.
Belle Vernon added an unearned run in the bottom of the sixth when Apryl Patterson reached on a fielder’s choice, advanced on a couple of errors and scored on an RBI single by Emily Scapes.
“That run in the sixth took some of the pressure off,” Rodriguez said. “One run and good pitching will win a lot of games, but we were glad to have that insurance run. Actually, we should have had another run in the first, but one of our players missed a sign.”
“Nichols has been a pleasant surprise all season,” Rodriguez said of his pitcher. “She probably should have pitched as a freshman, but we had a good senior pitcher last year. She got hurt in summer league and had to take a couple of months off. But she rehabbed really hard and has pitched very well for us.”
For their efforts, the Lady Leps (16-5) draw a quarterfinal match-up against top-seeded Elwood City, Class AAA’s only undefeated team.
“I guess everybody gets upset about seedings, but I thought we deserved better than an eight,” Rodriguez said. “We had the second-most wins in Triple-A. I thought we should have had at least a No. 6. Elizabeth-Forward got a No. 2 seed and we beat them once.”
Rodriguez expects the quarterfinals to take place early next week.