They do not have Houdini on their team, nor do they have Copperfield.

But Warsaw's softball players may consider hitting the road with a magic act after Thursday's 2-0 second-round win over Concord in the Warsaw Sectional.

The win puts Warsaw in Saturday's 11 a.m. sectional championship game against Elkhart Central (9-18), which blanked Goshen (7-19) 13-0 in five innings.

The Tigers committed four errors in the first two innings, two in the first and two in the second. The Tigers (21-8) gave Concord (16-14) five outs each inning instead of three. The Minutemen put runners at second and third in both innings.

Yet for all their sins, the Tigers didn't have to pay. The Minutemen couldn't handle the gifts, couldn't handle prosperity and couldn't push one run across.

The Tigers had one worse game defensively this season when they committed five errors against Valparaiso.

But as Craig Helfrich knows, teams that commit four errors in a sectional game are not supposed to come away with a win.

"We dodged some bullets, I'll tell you that," the Warsaw coach said.

Concord coach Peg Kelly, who announced her resignation earlier this season and coached her last game, may have been able to one-up Helfrich. The question asked of teams that fail to cash in on four errors is, "Did that team deserve to win?" Nothing demoralizes a team like missed opportunities.

For Kelly, it was woulda, coulda, shoulda.

"We should have been up 4-0 after the second inning," she said. "When we didn't score after that second inning, I had an empty feeling."

In two innings, Warsaw's cats had used up at least two lives. After escaping the second inning, the Tigers realized how fortunate they were still to be in a 0-0 game.

That realization may have helped spark the Tigers. Coincidence or not, in the top of the third, they scored their two runs.

With one out in the third inning, Kris Kurosky and Laura Overton hit back-to-back singles. Amie Poling smashed a double to the right-center gap, scoring Kurosky and moving Overton to third. Jacquie Burns followed Poling with a sacrifice fly to deep center to put Warsaw ahead 2-0.

"We hit the ball hard tonight," Helfrich said.

Instead of leading 4-2, Concord trailed by two.

In the first inning, Concord's first two hitters, Jenny Waterman and Bethany Miller, reached when the shortstop Poling and pitcher Ashley Wyatt booted ground balls. The next hitter, Jen Rowe, grounded out. Waterman tried to score on the ground out but was out at homeplate in a controversial call.

The Concord bench felt Warsaw went beyond simply blocking the plate and interfered when Waterman tried to score. The call stood, and the inning ended two batters later on a ground out. Concord left runners on second and third.

Concord's Kate Mitchell started the second inning with a single to Overton in left field. Overton misplayed the ball, allowing Mitchell to go to second. One out later, Melina Villalobos reached first when second baseman Melissa Himes committed an error on a ground ball. She eventually moved to second, but Wyatt pitched Warsaw past its mistakes by striking out Shanna Thomas and Waterman to end the threat.

"When we didn't score after we had chances in a couple of innings in a row, that took the wind out of our sails," Kelly said.

Said Helfrich: "We're known as a good defensive team, but we did nothing to help Ashley in the first two innings. Once we dodged those bullets, I felt things would go our way."

The pitching and defense for both teams controlled the game from the third inning on. Neither team threatened to score, as each team had but two hits after the third inning, although both of the Minutemen singles came in the sixth inning with two outs.

Each defense was put in a position to have to make plays as strikeouts were few and far between. Warsaw right-handed sophomore starter Wyatt (11-3) struck out four and walked none in tossing a complete-game three-hitter. A changeup artist, she often had Concord batters out in front and induced ground balls. Concord senior left-handed starter Steph Hoover (12-9) struck out three, walked two and scattered six hits over seven innings.

Not only did Warsaw escape the four-error fiasco, the Tigers escaped against a team they had to beat for the third time this season, a feat coaches consider monumental, let alone when the opposing team is given extra outs.

Warsaw beat Concord 4-0, 1-0 and now 2-0 this season.

"Concord is a heck of a team," Helfrich said, "and to shut them out three times in a season says a lot for Warsaw's softball program."

WARSAW 2, CONCORD 0

Warsaw 002 000 0 - 2 6 4

Concord 000 000 0 - 0 3 0

Warsaw ab r h rbi

Kurosky cf 3 1 1 0

Overton lf 3 1 1 0

Poling ss 2 0 1 1

Burns 3b 2 0 0 1

Himes 2b 3 0 0 0

Jones 1b 3 0 2 0

Keirn pr 0 0 0 0

McGriff dh 3 0 1 0

Colt c 0 0 0 0

Fribley rf 3 0 0 0

Wyatt p 3 0 0 0

Totals 25 2 6 2

Concord ab r h rbi

Waterman 3b 3 0 0 0

Miller ss 3 0 0 0

Rowe c 3 0 0 0

Hoover p 2 0 1 0

Shaw pr 0 0 0 0

Blair rf 3 0 1 0

Mitchell 2b 3 0 1 0

Bradshaw pr 0 0 0 0

Stewart cf 3 0 0 0

Villalobos 1b 3 0 0 0

Steinhilber pr 0 0 0 0

Thomas lf 2 0 0 0

Conrad 1 0 0 0

Totals 26 0 3 0

E-Poling, Wyatt, Overton, Himes. LOB-Warsaw 5, Concord 6. 2B-Poling.

SB-Waterman. SF-Burns.

Warsaw ip h r er bb so

Wyatt W, 11-3 7 3 0 0 0 4

Concord ip h r er bb so

Hoover L, 12-9 7 6 2 2 2 3

HBP-Hoover (by Wyatt). [[In-content Ad]]