June 1999 has been good to Craig Helfrich.

On June 1, the Warsaw girls softball coach watched his then 18-11 Warsaw softball team beat then 23-5-1 Elkhart Memorial 2-1 in the second round of the sectional.

On June 5, Warsaw won its first sectional title since 1995 with a 2-0 win over Concord. The 25-year-old Helfrich is in his second year as Warsaw's softball coach. He says a lot of people tell him he is the youngest coach to win a sectional at Warsaw.

On June 12, 20-11 Warsaw will play 12-17 Huntington North in the second game of the Columbia City 3A Regional. "No one expected us to be here," Helfrich said. "Everyone thought Elkhart Memorial would be here."

On June 26, he gets married.

Yes, he planned his wedding around the softball tournament. The state finals take place June 18-19.

"This is a big month," he said. "It's hard to believe. I made sure nothing is interfering on the June 26 date."

In a lot of ways, 12-17 Huntington North is like Warsaw.

Both teams rely on good pitching and solid defense. Neither team has big hitters who crush the ball. Both teams play little ball. Both coaches say their teams "have no superstars." Few people expected Warsaw to get past Elkhart Memorial in the sectional; even fewer expected Huntington North to march through Marion (12-2), Kokomo (3-2) and Homestead (5-4) - all teams with winning records - to win the sectional.

"You look at our record, we don't overshoot anybody," Huntington North coach Paris Seibold, also in his second year as coach at his school, said. "We're happy to be where we are."

Said Helfrich: "I talked to some coaches. They said Huntington put it all together and didn't make any errors."

Warsaw played Huntington North and won 1-0 during the regular season. At one point, Huntington North was 3-13.

What turned the Vikings around? The basics. Seibold had his players practice without gloves. He retaught his players how to run the bases correctly.

"We couldn't catch with gloves, so I thought we should take them off and do it bare-handed," he said. "Of course we used a softer ball. This helped us absorb the ball instead of stab at it.

"We cleaned up our mistakes. You always hear people say if you work hard, things will get better. They did."

A key game Seibold looks back on is a 3-1 loss to Fort Wayne Northrop. Northrop, 29-2, plays 26-3 Lafayette Jeff in the first game of the Columbia City Regional. Both finished the season in the top six in class 3A. Northrop has the best pitcher in the state, freshman Amy Kendall, who set a state record with 365 strikeouts, is 29-2 and one-hit a 25-6 DeKalb team in Northrop's 1-0 win in the sectional championship game.

But Huntington North played these same 29-2 Bruins close.

Helfrich knows what will give Warsaw trouble: junior Kelli Seibold, the coach's daughter. She's a right-handed starter who is 11-13 with a 2.22 ERA. In 163-2/3 innings, she has allowed 175 hits but only 24 walks. She has struck out 89.

"Their pitcher messes up a lot of hitters," he said. "She has a weird windup with a stutter step. I questioned it the first time we played them. Sometimes it looks like an illegal pitch. She has an advantage. She's almost to the white line by the time she pitches because she crow hops."

But it must not be illegal, as she has pitched 163-2/3 innings with her windup.

Seibold faces Warsaw sophomore right-hander Michelle Liebsch, who is 11-5 with a 0.91 ERA. Liebsch outdueled Seibold 1-0 during the regular-season game.

"We're down to the nitty-gritty," Helfrich said. "We will have to bunt people over. One or two runs will win games in the regional. People aren't going to make errors. People aren't going to make mental mistakes on the basepaths."

Should Warsaw win, Helfrich would have freshman Ashley Wyatt pitch against the Fort Wayne Northrop/Lafayette Jeff winner.

"I'm not afraid to put Ashley in the spotlight," Helfrich said. "She pitched a heckuva game in the win over Memorial."

Helfrich considered Warsaw an underdog in the sectional, but the Tigers won. Should they get by Huntington North, like it or not, they will be the underdogs again at 6 p.m., when the championship game takes place.

"We're not favored to win this, but we kind of like that role," Helfrich said. "We weren't favored to win the sectional. On a given day, teams can upset other teams. Our goal is to get to the state finals. I told our girls that. Yeah, we have only one senior, Marie Brown. I don't care if we're young or not. It's reachable."

For Helfrich, June started out good by winning the sectional. It will end good with his June 26 wedding. He has no guarantees about what will happen between the beginning and end. He finds out Saturday.

COLUMBIA CITY 3A SOFTBALL REGIONAL

11 a.m. - Fort Wayne Northrop (29-2) vs. Lafayette Jefferson (26-3)

1 p.m. -ÊHuntington North (12-17) vs. Warsaw (20-11)

6 p.m. - Championship

Probable lineups for Warsaw game:

Warsaw

1. CF Marie Brown -Ê.350, 8 2B

2. LF Laura Overton -Ê.370, 22 RBIs

3. 2B Melissa Himes - .326, 22 RBIs, 5 2B, 4 3B

4. 3B Jacquie Burns -Ê.319, 13 RBIs, 4 2B

5. SS Amie Poling -Ê.273, 13 RBIs

6. C Christy Colt -Ê.205, 13 RBIs

7. RF Kari Fribley - .140

8. 1B Ryann Jones -Ê.188

9. DH Chris Kurosky -Ê.203

Pitchers:

RHP Michelle Liebsch - 11-5, 0.91 ERA, 116 innings, 76 hits, 18 BB, 140 Ks

RHP Ashley Wyatt - 9-6, 1.84 ERA, 95 innings, 76 hits, 29 BB, 60 Ks

Huntington North

1. CF Katie Chafin, .377

2. RF Marissa Sell, .250

3. P Kelli Seibold, .261

4. C Andrea Lund, .403

5. DH Tracie Zissig, .280

6. SS Leann Williamson, .272

7. 3B Ashley Finley, .241

8. LF Jami Fusselman, .191

9. 1B Annie Barnum, .147

Pitcher:

RHP Kelli Seibold - 11-13, 2.22 ERA, 163-2/3 innings, 175 hits, 24 BB, 89 Ks [[In-content Ad]]