Pitching and defense, they preach.

Get these two things, baseball managers and broadcasters say, and you win games.

Try telling that to Warsaw's softball team.

Like most games during the regular season, the Tigers got good pitching and defense in Thursday's round two Class 3A Warsaw Sectional game with Elkhart Central.

Like several games during the regular season, they did not get enough hitting. The Tigers saw their season end with a 1-0 loss to Elkhart Central.

With Elkhart Central's Stephanie Jellison and Warsaw's Michelle Liebsch dealing on the mound, this game had that feeling, that who scored first would win. Warsaw coach Craig Helfrich felt it, and he told his team so during the middle of the fifth inning of the 0-0 game.

"One run can win this game," he told his players in the dugout before they went to bat in the bottom of the inning.

Like Warsaw, Elkhart Central has scuffled to score runs. The Blue Blazers improved to 8-19 after beating Warsaw, which ended the season 15-14.

But Jellison has been so dominating and the Elkhart Central defense so good in the last week the 8-19 Blue Blazers win even when they don't hit.

Jellison, a right-handed senior, owns a pedestrian 5-11 record. Then you find out why she is 5-11: no run support. She has lost eight one-run games this season.

Recently her luck has changed. Counting Thursday's win over the Tigers, she has pitched Elkhart Central to 2-1, 1-0 and 1-0 wins in the last three games.

Liebsch is a right-handed freshman who spent most of the year pitching for the junior varsity team. Her record? A sparkling 16-3.

The Tigers had their chances against Elkhart Central. They put runners in scoring position in the second, fourth, fifth and sixth innings and failed to score. Elkhart Central's outfielders threw runners out at home in the second inning and at third in the sixth inning.

"Anytime you get a team to leave runners on base, you're excited," Elkhart Central coach Mike Hamsher said. "That's our defense. It was a one-run feeling all night."

The Blue Blazers had fewer chances. Liebsch no-hit Elkhart Central through four innings.

While Liebsch got outs early, she went through her fair share of 3-2 counts. Late in the game, the Blue Blazers made her pay for those extra pitches.

Statistics show a batter who leads off an inning with a walk scores 80 percent of the time. Elkhart Central's Amy Simeri led off the sixth inning with a walk. Hamsher pinch ran Lisa Smith for Simeri.

Marjorie McClelland put down a sacrifice bunt to move Smith to second. Blaire McGinn followed with a one-out single that put runners at first and third.

Helfrich went to the mound before Angela Gibson stepped in the box. The Blue Blazer players serenaded Helfrich's pow-wow on the mound with sing-song chant of "a huddle, a huddle, there must be trouble."

They were right, as Gibson promptly dug in and singled home Smith for the lone run of the game.

Asked if he ended up staying with Liebsch two batters too long, Helfrich said: "No. I mean, it's still a one-run game. Your team has to be able to score one run. I wouldn't have done anything different."

Liebsch pitched 5-1/3 innings before Shanna Smith relieved her. The Blue Blazers finished with five hits, all in the fifth inning on.

"Warsaw's starting pitcher moved the ball well and kept us off-balance," Hamsher said. "She got a little tired -Êwe worked the count up on her -Êand that worked to our advantage the last couple of innings."

In a 1-0 game, Helfrich could drive himself batty looking at what could have been, especially if he wasted much time thinking about the second and sixth innings.

Central right fielder Gibson threw a strike to home to gun down Warsaw's Melissa Himes at the plate when she tried to score from second on a single by Jacquie Burns.

That was in the second inning. The Tigers came up empty.

"I really thought Himes slid under the tag when she crossed the plate," Helfrich said. "I thought we should have at least one run."

Later Himes hit a ball into center field that rolled to the wall. She had a stand-up double but went for the triple. Central center fielder McClelland quickly threw the ball into the infield, and third baseman Simeri held the ball and waited on Himes to slide into the tag for the easy out.

One batter later, Smith hit a ball into right field that may have tied the game at 1-1 had Himes stayed on second.

That was in the sixth inning. Again, the Tigers came up empty.

"I probably should have held Melissa up," Helfrich said. "But the ball was hit all the way to the fence. You have to test the center fielder's arm. She hadn't thrown all game. It backfired.

"A break here or there ... you have to take chances. They made good throws to get us out. It's just a tough way to lose."

It goes back to hitting or lack of hitting. Because the Tigers can't wait on the three-run homer, Helfrich has preached aggressive little ball all season.

"You don't score runs, it's hard to win," Helfrich said. "We're not a team that scores seven, eight runs a game. We gotta make things happen. We have to bunt people over, steal some bases."

Jellison pitched the complete game, scattering six hits while walking one.

The Tigers ended their regular season a week ago by losing to Elkhart Central - and Jellison -Ê2-1. Jellison followed that game by blanking Elkhart Memorial 1-0 in Monday's first-round sectional game.

Now she blanks Warsaw 1-0.

"Oh my goodness, she's phenomenal," Hamsher said. "She's moving the ball well and has good control. The thing about Steph, she's not afraid to use the defense behind her."

Elkhart Central meets 18-11 Wawasee in the sectional championship game at 11 a.m. Saturday. Wawasee won the Warsaw Sectional last year.

And yes, Wawasee will see Jellison.

"We'll probably go with Steph," Hamsher said.

Warsaw, which had 12 freshmen and sophomores on the varsity squad, loses only three seniors - first baseman Shannon Barger, Brandy Bussard and Smith.

"I'm not disappointed. We were 15-14 with a young team," Helfrich said. "We lose three quality seniors, but we have good people back. We have good pitching. Liebsch is only a freshman.

"Fifteen wins is more than last year. This was my first year; I learned from this. It will only help us down the road."

Helfrich left the sectional game convinced of one thing: "We have to hit next year," he said. [[In-content Ad]]