Craig Helfrich doubled as a spin doctor this week.

He had his regular duties of coaching Warsaw's softball team on the field in the sectional. Off the field, he had to persuade his players they could beat sectional heavyweight 23-5-1 Elkhart Memorial.

So Helfrich created a bunker mentality for his team. Us against the world. Nobody is giving us respect. Nobody believes we can beat Elkhart Memorial. Prove the doubters wrong.

Publicly, Helfrich mentioned often how everyone already had handed Elkhart Memorial the sectional title. Privately, he told his players they had a good chance to knock off Memorial.

Warsaw, now 19-11, stunned the heavyweight with a 2-1 win in Tuesday's second-round game.

"They expected to win," Helfrich said. "No question about it. They were already planning for Saturday."

The win put Warsaw in Saturday's Warsaw Sectional championship game against 15-13 Concord, which advanced by beating 1-25 Elkhart Central 5-1. Concord and Warsaw split two games during the regular season.

To beat Elkhart Memorial's softball team, the Warsaw Tigers:

• Would not have to beat any run-of-the-mill .500 team but beat a 23-5-1 Elkhart Memorial team;

• Would have to ask freshman pitcher Ashley Wyatt, who entered 8-6, to outduel 17-5 Elkhart Memorial senior Erin Nickell;

• Would have to beat a team with seven seniors while the Tigers have one;

• Would have to beat a team that beat them 3-2 in the regular season;

• Would have to prove they could win big games as their last sectional championship came in 1994.

Warsaw did all of these things.

You could talk how Wyatt outdueled Nickell or how Warsaw had timely hitting. But the reason Warsaw won was because their players bought into what Helfrich was selling. They embraced their underdog role.

"No one was predicting we would win the sectional," Helfrich said. "Elkhart Memorial was 23-5-1. I told our girls we could win if we played seven good innings. We're a good team. We can beat anybody."

Wyatt pitched six innings, allowing four hits and one earned run. She struck out seven and walked three in picking up the win. Sophomore Michelle Liebsch earned the save by shutting out Elkhart Memorial in the seventh.

"I hit the corners and keep them guessing the speed," Wyatt said. "I threw a lot of changeups."

Asked how as a freshman she stayed stoic on the mound, Wyatt said: "I've played on 16-and-under teams since I was 12. I'm used to playing against older girls, so it doesn't bother me that much. I learned early to let my defense field the ball so I'm not trying to do it all by myself."

Nickell, who had walked no more than two in any game this season, walked six, and two caught up with her for both Warsaw runs. The lead-off walk burnt Nickell twice.

"After watching her (Monday), she threw a lot of high pitches, and Goshen helped her," Helfrich said. "I told our girls to stay off the high pitches. A walk is as good as a hit. We made things happen with her six walks."

In the third inning, Warsaw sophomore Chris Kurosky - the No. 9 hitter - walked to lead off inning. After advancing to second on a wild pitch and to third on a passed ball, she scored on a one-out double by Marie Brown, Warsaw's lone senior.

The Tigers held the 1-0 lead until the top of the fourth.

At first the inning looked liked the previous three. Wyatt, who took a no-hitter into the fourth, retired the first two batters. But Elkhart Memorial rallied with two outs. Leslie Miller singled. Allison Teeter singled. Miller moved to third and Teeter to second on a wild pitch. Miller tied the game by scoring on a passed ball.

The game stayed tied until the sixth inning, when sophomore Jacquie Burns walked to lead off the inning. Nickell eventually walked the bases loaded, and with one out, Ryann Jones singled to first base off. Teeter leaped but could not bring the ball in, and it trickled away toward second base.

Nickell pitched the complete game, allowing four hits and two earned runs. She struck out 10, but they could not make up for the six walks.

"Erin has had trouble the past couple weeks hitting spots," Rost said. "She threw well during the middle of the season, but she's had to battle the last couple of weeks. She gave up two runs. We should be able to win when we give up two runs."

But the Crimson Chargers never solved the riddle that was Ashley Wyatt.

"We did not hit the ball today," Rost said. "That was not indicative of the way we hit the ball. Both their pitchers threw fairly hard. We had not faced any pitchers who threw that hard in the past couple of weeks. That hurt us. But that's no excuse for not being prepared.

"Our problem was we popped the ball up. There's not too many teams that can't catch a fly ball."

After the game, Rost served as a spin doctor himself.

"We went from five wins last season to 23 this year," he said. "Twenty-three wins crushed the school record. It hurts, but we have no reason to hang our heads. I told them, 'Don't let one game ruin everything we accomplished this year.

"In pressure games all year, we showed up. I don't think the (expectations) affected us. The sectional is a crazy thing. You can lose only once."

Helfrich plans to pitch Liebsch, who is 10-5, in Saturday's championship game.

"We're not done," he said. "This is step two out of three." [[In-content Ad]]