Going into the Elkhart Memorial Sectional, Warsaw baseball coach Will Shepherd knows what his team needs to do to be successful.

"After finishing flat at the end of the year offensively," he said, "we've gone back to basics the last couple of practices. We are working on hitting the ball and swinging at good pitches. We are working our pitchers in the bullpens. Obviously at tournament time, you must play good defense, and we are working on that as well."

But the Tigers will have their hands full with 15-11 Elkhart Central, their first sectional opponent. Earlier in the season, Warsaw downed the Blue Blazers 4-3.

"Elkhart Central is pesky on the bases," said Shepherd. "They have tons of stolen bases. Ten days ago they had over 100. The key for us will be making them earn their way on the bases. We don't want to boot the ball or walk them. If they get on base with a hit, then they deserve to be there, but we don't want to give them opportunities because of our mistakes."

But Shepherd is quick to say that Warsaw is not the favorite.

"To be honest, we're the team with the best record, but I wouldn't label us the favorites," said Shepherd. "All the teams left in it, we have played earlier in the season. We beat Elkhart Memorial 4-2. We played Concord twice, and we beat them by one run both times. So all the games have been real close.

"All the teams left are good. When it comes down to it, any of the four teams left can win it. The team that wins will be the one that takes advantage of the other team's mistakes. I think the team that does that will wind up winning."

So what's Warsaw's gameplan?

"We have been disappointed the last three seasons," said Shepherd. "We had good teams but we played lousy defense. I think if we can play really good defense, we have a good chance in the sectional.

"Solid defense will be a key for us. Elkhart Central is a solid team. We have good hitters, but we're gonna have to play our game. The good news for us is that the last few weeks of the season we played excellent defense."

Warsaw takes on Elkhart Central in the second game of the Elkhart Memorial Sectional semifinal at 7 p.m. Thursday. Concord (15-11) and Elkhart Memorial (10-15) face off in the first game at 5 p.m. The championship game takes place at 7:30 p.m. Saturday.

In other sectionals, Triton (18-10) plays South Central (18-10) at 9 a.m. Saturday in the LaCrosse A Sectional semifinals. In the other semifinal game, Argos plays LaCrosse after the Triton game. The championship takes place at 4 p.m. Saturday.

At the West Noble 3A Sectional, Wawasee (9-17) plays Lakeland in the semifinals at 12:30 p.m. Saturday. In the other semifinal game, Angola plays West Noble at 9:30 a.m. The championship takes place at 4:30 p.m. Saturday.

Four local teams lost first-round sectional games on Memorial Day. Tippecanoe Valley (11-14-1), Whitko (11-10), Manchester (11-17-1) and NorthWood (9-15) lost their sectional openers. [[In-content Ad]]