Successful Season for Lady Eagles Comes to a Close
Successful Season For Lady Eagles Comes to a Close
Ellicottville Softball Squad Downed in the Semi-Finals in Westfield
Photos / Rich Rumfola
Flying high after a comfortable 12-7 victory over visiting North Collins in the opening round of the Class D playoffs, Ellicottville’s Lady Eagles hit the wall just two days later in the semifinals at Westfield, where the #1 seeded Lady Wolverines showed why they’re heavily favored to win it all again, eliminating the visiting Lady Eagles from further play with a lopsided 16-0 win.
Westfield’s star pitcher, Haleigh Dellow, tossed the complete game shutout, striking out 11 Ellicottville batters and yielding a scant three hits over seven innings of work. Clearly the outstanding player of the game, Dellow also chipped in with a huge day at the plate, as the senior fireballer went 4-6 at bat, scoring three times and driving in three more on two doubles and a home run.
It marked the second time in the last two years that Dellow and the Lady Wolverines eliminated Ellicottville from playoff action.
The #4 seed in this year’s Class D playoffs, the Lady Eagles advanced to the semifinal round matchup versus Westfield by virtue of their five-run victory over #5 seed North Collins, on Monday, May 22 at Ellicottville. The quarterfinal round contest between Ellicottville and North Collins featured a pair of teams which both have Eagles as their school’s mascots and squaring off against each other for the second time in a week.
In both contests, it was the Ellicottville (Lady) Eagles who came out victorious, and in the playoff game, the home-standing hitters scored runs in all but the first inning and used a five-run power surge in the fourth to put the game out of reach.
Coach Matt Finn’s squad finished the 2023 campaign with a 10-6 record overall, and sported a 6-3 record in Class D action.
The Lady Eagles were a bit of an offensive juggernaut at times and racked up 168 runs with hot bats and quick feet. In fact, there were eight Ellicottville hitters with a batting average north of .300, while two more girls hit between .250 and .300!
Finn’s fabulous five hitters included senior catcher Allison Rowland, junior shortstop Jaida Mendell, freshman pitcher Ande Northrup, senior centerfielder Ryah Quinn and sophomore first baseman Courtney Marsh.
On the defensive side of the field, Ande Northrup took the mound for all but a handful of innings and gave her team the chance to win every time she took the mound.
Sophomore pitcher Keelin Finn made a few mound appearances down the stretch of the regular season and was the Lady Eagles’ opening pitcher in each of her team’s playoff games.