SYRACUSE - When Warsaw softball coach Craig Helfrich fills out his varsity lineup card, he writes down the names of two seniors and one junior. The rest are sophomores and freshmen.

When Wawasee softball coach Bo O'Dell jots down his lineup, he pencils in four seniors and three juniors.

The archrivals met Monday afternoon. One team played sparkling defense, advanced baserunners, pitched well, hit enough to get by and took advantage of the opponent's mistakes.

That team was Warsaw.

The Tigers beat Wawasee 5-1. Warsaw improved to 4-5 overall and 1-0 in the Northern Lakes Conference, while Wawasee dropped to 4-2 and 0-1 in the NLC.

The first two words Warsaw coach Craig Helfrich said to his girls afterward? "No errors." It was the first time this season he had the opportunity to say that, following a game he called "by far" Warsaw's best of the season.

Warsaw's defense and Shanna Smith's pitching shut the Warriors down. Smith pitched the complete game, allowing six hits and one walk. She is, without question, Warsaw's ace. Warsaw is 4-5; Smith is 4-3.

"Smith gave us good pitching, but we expect that from her," Helfrich said. "She has all four of our wins, so that says something. She throws strikes. Tonight she had the good defense behind her. When she knows her players will make the plays behind her, that will make her even tougher yet."

Wawasee actually out-hit the Tigers 6-5; problem was, the Warriors helped them too much. A team still has to execute on those chances, and the Tigers were indeed opportunistic on Monday.

Wawasee committed four errors. Jaime Conn walked three in a row and threw three wild pitches. Twice Wawasee batters doubled to start innings. Twice they were left standing at second.

All this happened to Wawasee by the bottom of the fourth inning, when Warsaw led 5-0. The bottom third of Warsaw's lineup got the job done, as Christy Colt, Melissa Himes and Sara Ellis scored four of Warsaw's five runs.

"We allowed them to get too many baserunners for too many reasons," Wawasee coach Bo O'Dell would say afterward.

Conn walked Colt, Himes and Ellis to start the second. Colt would score on the second of two wild pitches, and Himes would go to third on the wild pitches and score when teammate Laura Overton hit into a double play. Warsaw led 2-0.

Warsaw took a 3-0 lead in the third inning. Shannon Barger singled and went to third when third baseman Sonya Beer chucked the ball over first baseman Danielle Powell's head and into right field. Smith laid down bunt that scored Barger on the squeeze play.

Warsaw went ahead 5-0 in the fourth inning. Himes singled and Ellis was hit by Conn's pitch to start the inning. Overton's bunt moved Ellis to second and Himes to third. Himes scored and Ellis moved to third on a bobble by Wawasee shortstop Kari Wortinger that allowed Jacquie Burns to reach first. Burns took off for second and stole the base, allowing Ellis to score Warsaw's fifth run.

Conn, who entered with a 2-0 record, lasted just 3 2/3 innings and fell to 2-1.

Playing little ball had paid off for the Tigers.

Wawasee's lone run came in the sixth, when Wortinger singled and scored on a Conn single.

O'Dell felt his team ran into bad luck. The Warriors put the ball in play against Smith; she struck out none.

"I was sitting back waiting on us to do something," he said. "I never thought we were out of it. We hit the ball hard, but we always hit it right at someone."

"(Jaime) wasn't hitting the spots she needed to hit. I can't say they hit the ball too hard when they hit it."

Warsaw hosts Goshen at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday.

"We play the second- or third- toughest schedule in the state," Helfrich said. "The 4-5 record doesn't mean anything. Winning conference and tournament games, that means something. Our schedule will prepare us for that."

Wawasee host Tippecanoe Valley at 4:30 p.m. Wednesday. [[In-content Ad]]