Chip Shots: A Great Saturday To Be A (Lady) Tiger
October 8, 2022 at 3:03 a.m.
Chip Shots: A Great Saturday To Be A (Lady) Tiger
By Chip Davenport-
I don’t use the term Lady Tiger in my writing, nor in my PA announcing, though. This morning, however, the distinction is handy for acknowledging the success among an almost-all Warsaw girls’ fall sports team.
I’ll get to Warsaw’s success to this point of the fall athletic season in a bit, after we discuss the “Lady” modifier topic.
The team moniker at my high school alma mater was the Colts. I never bought into the moniker for our girls’ sports teams, the Fillies. One high school, one nick name. Don’t get me started on Plymouth.
Maybe this differentiation was more customary around the time I attended and graduated from high school in (1978-1982). Girls’ prep basketball in Ohio didn’t have a sanctioned state tournament until the 1975-76 school year, so perhaps this was a more welcome distinction when Title IX was in its early stages.
I’ve noticed, in present time, sports I’ve covered when the teams huddle and break out shouting their team’s name I’ve very rarely heard anyone say “Lady…” nor use the feminine version of their school’s team nickname.
This morning the Warsaw girls’ cross-country team, one of four fall Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) champions, will likely advance to the regionals as one of the top team finishers led by junior Joey Rastrelli, who is only in one fall sport this school year.
Hats off to the golf team, whose season ended two weeks ago, but not without winning the NLC, but also advancing to the regionals for their final number.
The volleyball team clinched the NLC title outright when they honored their seniors in the Tiger Den, efficiently dumping the Concord Minutemen 3-0 to run the NLC table. They’ll open tournament play this Thursday against Elkhart with Penn waiting to battle the winner. If the lower part of the sectional bracket were the base of a structure, it would be crushed trying to hold up the extremely heavy upper bracket among the Lions, Tigers, and… Kingsmen (oh my!).
I couldn’t resist.
There is a soccer parallel universe in the air tonight at Northrup High School and at Warsaw’s Tiger Soccer Complex. The girls’ and boys’ sides each face the Homestead Spartans for their respective sectional titles.
I digress, because – as the song goes – “this one’s for the girls.”
The Tiger girls’ footballers also ran the NLC table for their fourth consecutive league crown, but there is championship hardware within their reach even sweeter than a conference title. They will – for the second consecutive year – vie for a sectional title at Northrup High School against a Spartan side who hosted Warsaw’s shorthanded squad in September, playing to a scoreless tie.
There is, furthermore, a lingering collective sour taste in the mouths of the Warsaw girls’ side from the rematch of the 2021 sectional final.
The Spartans won the 2021 sectional title 8-7 in the second round of a shootout that punctuated 80 minutes of regulation play, and 14 minutes of overtime action.
Scholastic sports fans have quite the menu to choose from today, and later this week.
If all goes well Saturday, the Tiger girls’ soccer will survive and advance to Wednesday’s regional, and the harriers will be running again the following Saturday.
Tiger volleyball fans could be jamming to the Bee Gees’ “Stayin Alive” Saturday against Penn if they can win the battle of the big cats versus Elkhart in the opening round of sectionals.
Three teams could be thinking it’s a great week to be a Tiger by the time we complete another scholastic fall sports week.
I don’t use the term Lady Tiger in my writing, nor in my PA announcing, though. This morning, however, the distinction is handy for acknowledging the success among an almost-all Warsaw girls’ fall sports team.
I’ll get to Warsaw’s success to this point of the fall athletic season in a bit, after we discuss the “Lady” modifier topic.
The team moniker at my high school alma mater was the Colts. I never bought into the moniker for our girls’ sports teams, the Fillies. One high school, one nick name. Don’t get me started on Plymouth.
Maybe this differentiation was more customary around the time I attended and graduated from high school in (1978-1982). Girls’ prep basketball in Ohio didn’t have a sanctioned state tournament until the 1975-76 school year, so perhaps this was a more welcome distinction when Title IX was in its early stages.
I’ve noticed, in present time, sports I’ve covered when the teams huddle and break out shouting their team’s name I’ve very rarely heard anyone say “Lady…” nor use the feminine version of their school’s team nickname.
This morning the Warsaw girls’ cross-country team, one of four fall Northern Lakes Conference (NLC) champions, will likely advance to the regionals as one of the top team finishers led by junior Joey Rastrelli, who is only in one fall sport this school year.
Hats off to the golf team, whose season ended two weeks ago, but not without winning the NLC, but also advancing to the regionals for their final number.
The volleyball team clinched the NLC title outright when they honored their seniors in the Tiger Den, efficiently dumping the Concord Minutemen 3-0 to run the NLC table. They’ll open tournament play this Thursday against Elkhart with Penn waiting to battle the winner. If the lower part of the sectional bracket were the base of a structure, it would be crushed trying to hold up the extremely heavy upper bracket among the Lions, Tigers, and… Kingsmen (oh my!).
I couldn’t resist.
There is a soccer parallel universe in the air tonight at Northrup High School and at Warsaw’s Tiger Soccer Complex. The girls’ and boys’ sides each face the Homestead Spartans for their respective sectional titles.
I digress, because – as the song goes – “this one’s for the girls.”
The Tiger girls’ footballers also ran the NLC table for their fourth consecutive league crown, but there is championship hardware within their reach even sweeter than a conference title. They will – for the second consecutive year – vie for a sectional title at Northrup High School against a Spartan side who hosted Warsaw’s shorthanded squad in September, playing to a scoreless tie.
There is, furthermore, a lingering collective sour taste in the mouths of the Warsaw girls’ side from the rematch of the 2021 sectional final.
The Spartans won the 2021 sectional title 8-7 in the second round of a shootout that punctuated 80 minutes of regulation play, and 14 minutes of overtime action.
Scholastic sports fans have quite the menu to choose from today, and later this week.
If all goes well Saturday, the Tiger girls’ soccer will survive and advance to Wednesday’s regional, and the harriers will be running again the following Saturday.
Tiger volleyball fans could be jamming to the Bee Gees’ “Stayin Alive” Saturday against Penn if they can win the battle of the big cats versus Elkhart in the opening round of sectionals.
Three teams could be thinking it’s a great week to be a Tiger by the time we complete another scholastic fall sports week.
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