Forestville young guns lift Hornets to first Regional Victory

Last Friday night, the Forestville Lady Hornets snapped a 13-year sectional drought by defeating Ellicottville 2-0.

Last night, they made school history.

Olivia Valentine belted a two run single in the bottom of the fifth inning to put the Lady Hornets up for good as they defeated Section V’s Fillmore 5-2 at Frontier High School. The win is Forestville’s first Far West Regional victory in program history, and they will be making the trip to Binghamton next weekend.

Carilene Sliva set the tone early, belting a lead off solo home run to left center field. “It was very overwhelming going up first,” the junior shortstop remarked. “I just believed that I could put the ball where it needed to go.”

The state ranked #1 Lady Eagles  responded with two runs in the fourth, with shortstop Mattie McCumiskey launching a solo home run to dead center field to tie the game at 1. Miley Miller followed that up with a hit by pitch and stealing 2nd and 3rd base. She was driven in by Kelsie Songster’s triple to put the Eagles up 2-1.

“I told the girls ‘You got it’,” said coach Brianne Hazelton. “Our defense has been great all year, and we got a couple hits and then the lead, and we knew Megan [Gruber] could lock it down.”

Megan Gruber indeed locked the game down, as the senior pitcher ended the game with eleven strikeouts, three of them coming in the final two innings to seal the game and shut down a potent Eagles offense.

“I think the pressure makes me throw harder,” said Gruber. “It fuels me to do better, and I trust myself.”

Entering the late innings, the Lady Hornets got to work in the bottom of the 5th inning. With two outs, Emily Lilly and Megan Gruber belted back-to-back singles, and junior Madison Christian drove in Lilly with an RBI single. Freshman Olivia Valentine then stepped up and belted a two run double to put the Lady Hornets up 4-2. Sophomore Kaylee Adamzak continued the hot hitting with an RBI single to give Gruber an insurance run going into the final innings.

“With this being such a young team, and us being able to accomplish this, having never won regionals, and this young team being able to pull together and get those clutch hits was amazing,” said Gruber. “Obviously the top of the lineup has been great, but these younger girls have come through when we need them to. They’re the reason we’re here.”

“They’re confident, they’re not rattled by the pressure,” said Hazelton. “Maybe it’s because they’re young and they’ve never been here.”

Forestville will face Section III’s Hamilton, who is ranked 2nd in Class D in the NYSSWA rankings, with the Lady Hornets entering championship weekend ranked 5th. “We’re the first team from our school to go to states, it’s so special,” remarked Hazelton. “It’s a great memory for us.”

“I’ve been on varsity since seventh grade, and I’ve been waiting for this moment since seventh grade,” Gruber said. “To finally be able to make it feels so good.”

Photo Gallery by Alex Kolstee/WNYAthletics