SYRACUSE -ÊThe Warsaw Tiger and the Wawasee Warrior softball teams faced off for their second game of the year in Syracuse, and the Tigers came out on top 4-3 Wednesday.

"A win in conference is a win, but this was not a pretty game for us," said Warsaw coach Craig Helfrich. "We had to scratch and claw to win it, but we pulled it out."

The game was scoreless (and hitless) until the top of the third inning when Warsaw's Marie Brown hit a one-out single to start a Tiger rally that resulted in two runs.

Wawasee was down 2-0 heading into the bottom of the third, but Laura Karns wanted to turn that around and started a Wawasee rally with a one-out single of her own. Then Sara Frantz hit a two-out single to give the Warriors runners on first and third as Andrea Gingerich stepped up to the plate.

Gingerich laced a double up the middle to drive in both Karns and Frantz and tie the score at two, but she was left on second as the inning ended on a fly ball to the shortstop.

Warsaw would not give in, however, and Christy Colt stepped to the plate and hit a lead-off double to jump-start the fourth inning for the Tigers. Colt moved to third on a Ryann Jones sacrifice and scored on a single up the middle by Sara Ellis to give Warsaw a 3-2 advantage.

Wawasee went three up and three down in the bottom of the fourth and started a trend for both teams that would last until the top of the seventh when Warsaw's Ellis walked to break the streak.

Ellis moved to second on a sacrifice by Brown and scored on a fielder's choice by Amie Polling to give Warsaw a 4-2 lead.

"It was nice to get an insurance run in the seventh," said Helfrich. "It's little things like that that will win games for a team."

Warsaw would need that run after all as Wawasee threatened in the seventh.

The Warriors were down, but not out as Danielle Powell stepped up to the plate and hit a lead-off double to left field. She advanced to third on a sacrifice by Tara Hymer. After Jennifer Mason hit a grounder to the short stop to drive Powell in, the Warriors were within one, 4-3.

That was the only run the Warriors would produce, however, and the Warsaw squad came home with its fifth Northern Lakes Conference win of the season.

"There are no easy games in the NLC," said Helfrich. "It's tough to win in our conference, and in order to win, you have to do the little things and perform in clutch situations. We did that today."

"We are still making some mental mistakes," said Wawasee coach Bo O'Dell. "To win games, a team must play clean offensively and defensively. Unfortunately we are having mental lapses doing that.

"Our girls are doing some good things, though. Tonight we didn't play a very good ball game and we only lost by one. We've gotten to the point where we are playing more consistently, now we just need to focus on playing better." [[In-content Ad]]