May 17, 2007 By Adam Gretz For The 3 min read

California – For three innings Laurel Highlands starting pitcher Rebecca Williams had the Elizabeth-Forward line-up confused and off-balance. Unfortunately for the Fillies, everything began to unravel in the top of the fourth inning when the Lady Warriors belted out five hits and put seven runs on the board as they marched to an impressive 7-2 victory at Lilly Field on Wednesday night.

The loss eliminates Laurel Highlands from the WPIAL playoffs and leaves the Fillies with an overall record of 10-9 on the season.

The first time through the Elizabeth-Forward batting order Williams allowed only one hit and struck out five of the first nine hitters she faced.

“Rebecca has been strong for us all season,” said Laurel Highlands coach George Kaiser. “If you look at her stats she’s only walked about 11 or 12 hitters in 300 at-bats against her this year, and she started off really strong tonight.”

Shortstop Brittany Bruce led off the bottom of the fourth inning for the Lady Warriors and ripped a single right back through the box to start off the rally. Eleven hitters, four additional hits and three errors later, the Fillies found themselves with a 7-1 deficit they would not be able to overcome.

“It was just that one inning,” Kaiser said. “That’s been the story of our season. Sometimes it just seems like we beat ourselves. You make a couple of mistakes and it comes back to hurt you. It’s difficult when you give the other team four or five outs an inning.”

The Lady Warriors entered the contest having lost their final two regular season games, each by a final score of 1-0. Williams pushed their scoreless streak to 17 consecutive innings as she mixed in a variety of off-speed pitches leaving the Lady Warriors shaking their heads as they walked back to the dugout. Finally in the fourth inning, the drought ended in a big way.

“It took us a little while to adjust,” said Elizabeth-Forward coach Chris Estadt. “Actually it took a lot longer than I would have liked. She was a little bit slower than we’re used to seeing at this point in the season and we had some trouble with it early on.”

Left fielder Tori Patera led the Lady Warriors attack with a 2-for-3 night at the plate, while first basemen Hilary Holets drove in a game high two runs. Brittany Bruce, Kristen Hawkins and Erin Lawnizak also drove in runs.

Victoria Kearns started off the scoring for Laurel Highlands with a double to deep right field in the top of the second inning. Right fielder Hanna Holchin drove in the final run for the Fillies with a hard hit single to left field in the top of the sixth.

“I realize we came in here as a 15th seed, but I really thought we had a chance against them,” said Kaiser. “And they put up a lot zeroes across the board tonight, it just goes back to that one inning. I thought we could get some hits off of Smith, and at times we did, but we just made a few mistakes. I’m still extremely proud of our girls.”