Ellwood City Softball Earns Big Comeback With Walkoff Victory

The Ellwood City softball team displayed a tremendous amount of character and grit with a great walk off win over Avonworth Wednesday afternoon at Stiefel Park.

The team overcame two different deficits by scoring seven runs over the final two innings to earn the 7-6 victory. Hard hitting left fielder Mollie Street ended things in the bottom of the seventh with a one out two strike sacrifice fly to score Aliya Garroway from third base and the celebration began.

The visiting Antelopes got out to an early lead by way of second inning grand slam that put Avonworth ahead 5-0 and a second long ball in the third inning to stretch the lead to 6-0.

The Wolverines started chipping away in the fourth as Garroway laced a double down the third base line and scored on a double by Kyla Servick. Avonworth made it 7-1 in the fifth as they struck again with a two out double to score Stanley.

After Avonworth countered with its own run in the fifth inning, the momentum started to shift in the sixth inning for Ellwood City as Servick, Kali Barnett, and Angie Nardone turned a sweet 4-6-3 double play off a rocket to end the inning.

The bottom of the sixth started with Angie Nardone, Garroway, and Maria Ioanilli loading the bases with three straight singles. Nardone scored on an RBI groundout. With one out, Street stepped into the box and lined a single into center to plate both Garroway and Ioanilli. Julia Nardone advanced Street to third with a single to left and alertly moved over to second on the throw. Keira Rozanski brought Street home with a RBI groundout  and the inning ended with Ellwood City trailing by just one at 7-6.

With one out, Angie Nardone drew a walk and moved to second on a  single to left by Garroway. Cleanup hitter Maria Ioanilli tied the game with a RBI ground rule double to score Nardone and move Garroway to third. With the game tied, Street smacked a deep fly ball to center field to bring Garroway home with the game winner.

Garroway led the offense with three hits, including a double and scored three times. Freshman pitcher, Julie Nardone pitched with great composure and gave up seven runs with two earned and walked three for her sixth of the season.

The Wolverines (6-1 overall, 2-1 section) will look to make it a perfect week as they travel to South Park for a Friday matinee beginning at 3:45 p.m.

RELATED: A two-hit performance by Madison Fryer was not enough for the Panther softball team as they fell to Laurel 11-1 on Wednesday.